Hot Pink
by Vinnet
Summary: A hot pink guys' cabin, a runin with an Imperial base, and a cute little... vornskr?
1. Disturbing the Peace

Who would have known that only fourteen standard years after the Battle of Endor, the New Republic would be a fairly stable society and that I'd be a successful entrepreneur with five peculiar employees? -Jess Jess's Journal  
  
It was his best place to go to be alone to think. Sure, there were other places he could go to relax, but it was always too loud or too distracting in the lounge, and that was about the only other out of the way place on the ship. There was almost always a hoot-provoking board game or holodrama on. Here, it was usually quiet and inviting. It was the guys' cabin and it was now painted hot pink. There was nothing he could do about it for the time being. For the next few days on the way to Coruscant, he may just be sleeping in the lounge; the paint wasn't dry yet and it smelled terrible.  
  
Dantien Pindar turned on his heels and went around the circular hallway to the rec. room, hoping to speak to his friend and employer, as well as the owner of the ship, Jess Jess Cadyue. She was tall and had strange, red lines covering her arms, legs, and head. Her eyes were set atop eyestalks that seemed to float above her bare head and showed great emotion. Her long, floppy ears were usually tied behind her neck and slapped against her back with each step. He himself had short, gray-blonde hair. He wasn't nearly as tall as his employer, but still of considerable height.  
  
He should have just stayed where he had been. She was leading Prat Pekyuz, his roommate, down the hall toward their source of frustration. Prat, like Dantien, was human. He had light brown hair and was well rounded around his midriff. Though usually jolly, he was at the moment infuriated.  
  
"You saw it, didn't you, Dan," Prat drearily said as Dantien fell into step beside him. At his friend's solemn nod, he continued. "How could he do such a thing? And why pink, of all colors?" He was speaking of their other roommate, Baka Ma'lik, the newest member of Cadyue Shuttling and Shipping. The young, black Bothan had always believed it to be too dark in their room ever since he moved in a month ago, but the two other occupants of the room had liked it with the darker tones, so that was the way it was supposed to stay. He had painted it while they were on Naboo, delivering cargo. They'd stayed there longer than they usually would have so Jess Jess could visit her hometown.  
  
Now that their cabin was no longer as comfortable, Prat and Dantien were getting very upset with Baka. "I vote to have Baka move into the storage closet!" the usually calm Prat suggested with barely restrained anger in his voice as the three came to a halt inside the cabin.  
  
Jess Jess's large eyes widened as she saw the pink walls that were more suited to a teenage girl's bedroom than the shared cabin of three adult men.  
  
Dantien spoke in the same tone of voice as his friend. "I second that vote! He can start packing right now!" It was indeed fortunate for his coworker that he was already on station.  
  
Jess Jess recovered from her stunned silence. "If the two of you can avoid Baka until we reach the capital, I'll get him to repaint these walls and give each of you a small bonus for having to put up with this. Meanwhile, you should sleep in the lounge."  
  
As she was talking, a large, black four-legged creature curiously entered the room to find out what every one was up to. Immediately, he gave a little yip as the paint smell assaulted his sensitive nose and ran out of the room.  
  
"Poor Clipper!" Jess Jess said. "He's so traumatized, he may never come in your room again." 


	2. Welcome Home

Boy, are the guys going to be happy when they've seen how I've brightened  
up the room! -Diary of Baka Ma'lik  
  
The familiar alarm pulsed throughout the ship for exactly one standard minute.  
  
"All right already! I'm up!"  
  
Jess Jess clambered out of her cramped bunk and started going through her morning routine. Of course, this one wouldn't be the same relaxing one, but that was expected. The ten-minute hyperspace exit warning was always broadcast everywhere in the ship so that the crew could get strapped in before any problems could present themselves. Even though most of the few functional Corellian YT-1300s left weren't as iffy as the *Millennium Falcon*, the *Gungan Vornskr* had its share of troubles. The ship as a whole was no more than five standard years old, but most of the parts were manufactured not long after the Clone Wars. She had rebuilt the previously ruined craft and added a B-wing airfoil for extra stability. That was before she had hired her crew. Back then, she had only Clipper, her pet vornskr, for company. Now there was a whole list of characters to cause and fix problems on her ship.  
  
Jess Jess turned out of her room and headed toward the cockpit to replace the pilot. *I wish I'd hired a more experienced night shift pilot.* But in the very essence of her being, she knew that in time, the Mon Calamari would be skilled enough to reenter atmosphere on her own.  
  
Clipper ran past her, getting into his usual spot where he always braced himself upon reentry into normal space. The crew had long since given up trying to strap him in. It was bad enough to have to hold him the few times he went to the vet's, but to have to do that every time they went into or came out of hyperspace? He had really good balance anyway. They had no reason to worry about him.  
  
She turned into the cockpit and got ready to take the helm. Elibex Hyroe nodded to the seasoned pilot and left her seat for one of the back two. Jess Jess sat and looked over the sensors.  
  
"Ten seconds to normal space," Janua Dar, her bright blue Twi'lek navigator, announced. Just as the countdown clock reached zero, Jess Jess pulled the lever that shut down the hyperdrive engines and would bring them into real space. The dizzying dazzle of hyperspace elongated into star lines that shrank into stars. They were back in normal space and headed to the capital of the largest government in the galaxy. The comm lines lit up as Coruscant Traffic Control contacted them to give them an approach vector. Once everything was entered into the navicomputer, the crew sat back to enjoy the beautiful view of the night side of Coruscant that was now facing them.  
  
When they had finally reached orbit, they waited another hour to get clearance to land. Jess Jess gently glided the spaceship toward the kilometers high landscape of skyscrapers that was Coruscant. When they reached an altitude where the pressure was the same outside the ship as inside, she opened the vents. Being bottled up in the ship for days with that paint smell had done none of them any good. 


	3. Corellian YT1300s

Finally, I've found a place to fit in, where everyone respects me. -Diary  
of Baka Ma'lik  
  
The moment they had landed, they'd opened the boarding ramp and the top hatch and anything else that could vent the terrible odor. Dantien had then taken Clipper for an uneventful walk to get the both of them some exercise. Now the ship was shut, Clipper was put up, and the crew gathered in a family owned Twi'lek restaurant. The waitress had already come and gotten their orders.  
  
"You still should have asked me before changing the color of anything on my ship!" Jess Jess scolded Baka.  
  
He tried to defend his opinion. "But you wouldn't have agreed no matter what! The room needed life! It was so dark, you'd swear you'd been sucked into a black hole." He habitually swept his fingers through the mop of hair on his furry head.  
  
Janua snorted and spoke before Jess Jess had a chance. "It wasn't that bad! And you don't know that she wouldn't have agreed to something like a lighter shade of blue."  
  
"I feel really sorry for you guys. I don't think we could put up with that shade of pink in our room," Elibex said, joining in. The other two occupants of the cabin in question still grudgingly stared at Baka.  
  
"Pink." Prat clearly wasn't so upset that the room was repainted as that the color had been the most obnoxious hot pink available on Naboo.  
  
"You both obviously need time to recover," Jess Jess said, laughing.  
  
"From what?" questioned a new voice from behind the Gungan. The crew turned and regarded the newcomers. The one who had spoken was a human woman that had what Jess Jess recognized as a touch of a Naboo accent. Her companion was a sandy-haired man. They both wore uniforms with an unfamiliar patch on the shoulders that depicted a Corellian YT-1300 flying into the sky with two X-wings flying escort.  
  
"Hello," Janua said, pulling up a couple of chairs for the pair to sit in. "Would you like to sit with us?"  
  
"Sure, but just for a minute." The man had a somewhat low voice, but it wasn't quite in the bass range. "We might be needed back at our ship soon."  
  
As they sat, the woman explained, "We saw your ship land and wondered who else had a YT-1300." She paused for a second. "Oh, by the way, my name's Mirishi Nabas and this is my friend, Jarvey Trench."  
  
He picked up where she left off, saying, "She's the navigator and I'm the mechanic."  
  
Jess Jess introduced her own crew. "So, what brings you to search us out? We're just a boring group of friends." Well, that was what Mirishi and Jarvey heard. The crew of the *Vornskr* heard a muttered "mostly" added onto the end. None of them were best friends with Baka yet, and the way things were going, it might just stay that way for a while. He didn't even have a one-syllable nickname yet.  
  
"We were just wondering what exciting things another YT crew would be up to. Especially the crew of such an unusual ship." Mirishi seemed to be much more outgoing than Jarvey, or maybe he was just not feeling his best.  
  
The young and naive Baka answered, "We've never done anything exciting. All we do is get people or their stuff from one system to another, a big waste of fuel if you ask me."  
  
The always-optimistic Elibex wasn't satisfied with such a negative answer. "Of course on the way to each of those systems, we get to meet a lot of interesting people like the Jedi apprentice Wesba and his master, um, I guess I forgot his name. And Emaz Sneet, the vice president of Starco."  
  
"Wow, it sounds like you know a lot of interesting people. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're in the shipping business, right?" Six heads bobbed, some more enthusiastically than others. "Us too, but it's not very interesting at all. Just the same old thing all the time. Surely you must have some interesting stories to tell."  
  
Jess Jess thought for a moment, but then shook her head no. "It's not very exciting on the *Vornskr* either, until something unexpected happens." 


	4. New Kid

He's the new kid and he already thinks he knows how Jess'll act! I've been her friend for many years, but she still surprises me. More than anything,  
Baka needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut. -Janua's Log  
  
While they were talking, Prat noticed that the two friends from the other YT weren't looking at any of the Vornskr crewmembers. He didn't want to appear paranoid by looking over his shoulder constantly, so he casually excused himself and headed toward the refresher. When he was almost there, he stopped and leaned against an empty wall. From there, he had an unobstructed view of the whole restaurant, except for customers that were constantly getting up and down. There was one man that kept his gaze on the crew and kept navigating through the crowd to get closer to their table, which was near the back of the room. He was definitely where their eyes rested. The closer he got, the more nervous Mirishi and Jarvey got until they stood up, rushed through farewells, and slipped over to their own booth. Prat strolled back to his table and took his seat just as the mysterious man reached the group.  
  
"Hello," he said as he took Mirishi's seat across from Jess Jess. "I heard you were a talented shipping company." His voice was harsh and clipped, precise, as if he was trained to speak without accent or contraction. Had she been more experienced with this kind of person, Jess Jess might have known how dangerous he could be.  
  
Jess Jess's eyes flicked from side to side to each member of her company. She then looked at the stranger. "Okeeday," she cautiously said. "What would you like us to do?"  
  
"I have a shipment I need to get to a colony at the coordinates I will provide. As long as everything arrives sealed and intact, my friend there will pay well. Security is tight; pirates have been trying to get in to steal supplies. You will need to tell them my name to receive an approach vector." He paused and showed a predatory grin. "Will you take the job?"  
  
Baka eagerly replied, speaking for his employer, "We've got nothing better to do." Ten surprised eyes turned toward him, six quickly turning enraged.  
  
Jess Jess spoke with more than an edge in her voice. "Excuse him, he's new to C.S.S. What are you offering?"  
  
"Two thousand initial deposit and at least ten thousand upon arrival, depending on what my friend thinks."  
  
"We can do it in three days."  
  
The secretive man shifted in his seat, ready to leave. "Then I will find another crew. This is somewhat urgent."  
  
"I guess we can put that off a while," Jess Jess reluctantly countered. She really would have liked to get the guys' cabin repainted before they went anywhere, as would Prat, but they did need another job.  
  
"I'll meet you at your docking bay, which is..."  
  
"Building 127 number 89."  
  
"In two hours with my shipment." To that, Jess Jess nodded. The man hadn't even told them his name, but they were going to take his stuff to a colony. It was also quite disturbing that he seemed to know quite a bit about them, but they knew nothing of him. Then he left to ready his shipment.  
  
Prat recovered his voice first after the alarming encounter. "Did anyone notice that Mirishi and Jarvey were scared of him?" Shocked and questioning faces turned toward him.  
  
"You spent the least amount of time talking to them! How would you know?" Elibex protested.  
  
"But you didn't notice that they weren't looking at any of you when they were talking. They were watching what's-his-name. And they moved away right as he reached the table." Noise from countless other conversations filled their ears as they each thought about this new information. The two people from the other YT-1300 had already left.  
  
Jess Jess changed the subject to address another matter. "Baka, until you know me better, please don't answer for me." She was clearly quite annoyed.  
  
"But that's what we did anyway..."  
  
"I have an assignment for you as soon as we get back that I was going to give you now."  
  
"What?" he asked excitedly, his eyes widening and a smile appearing on his face.  
  
Prat grinned merrily. "For that, I expect you'll have to wait until we have more time on our hands." Most of the others laughed at that suspenseful statement.  
  
Then the waitress finally came with their dinner of grazer and gorrnt. 


	5. Distrust

What a nice guy to walk up to us and offer us a job like that! -Diary of  
Baka Ma'lik  
  
By the time they got back to the Gungan Vornskr, they'd all forgotten about the peculiar man at the restaurant. Now he was waiting outside their ship with a cargo speeder. Clipper was noisily yowling at him from the window in the raised boarding ramp. Jess Jess went over to talk to the man while the others got on to start pre-flight procedures.  
  
"I see you have quite a bit of cargo to ship to this colony. How are you going to pay for it?" Jess Jess knew she didn't want to be taken advantage of. Many humans had a strong bias against aliens and thought they were too inferior to pay for a job well done. That kind of thinking often bothered any sentient nonhuman trying to make a living. Twi'leks and Wookies had had it worst off during the Empire. It wasn't too good for any nonhuman, but that got much better when the New Republic took over. There were still individuals that had a positively Imperial outlook, but more aliens were in more powerful positions and the galaxy was better off for that.  
  
What-ever-his-name-was seemed confused by the question. "I already told you. My friend will pay you well if the cargo is not tampered with when it gets there. Just tell him that Amak Borrit sent you."  
  
"Okeeday," Jess Jess agreed uncertainly. Amak handed her a piece of flimsy with coordinates written on it. By rough calculations, Jess Jess concluded that the system the colony was at wasn't far enough away from Coruscant to be in the Outer Rim or close enough to the Core Worlds to be an Imperial colony. That was good. Obviously, it wasn't Imperial anyway or they would have hired an all-human crew. It was just a good idea to check to make sure in case they were trying to trick her.  
  
"That will get you there. I already transferred the two thousand credits into your account. I trust you can get the cargo on safely?"  
  
"No problem." Clipper suddenly bounded down the boarding ramp, his leash trailing behind him, and Dantien not more than three meters after. Clipper ran straight toward Jess Jess and let her pick up his leash. "Clipper a bit eager to go on a walk, Dan?" He nodded, exasperated. Then Clipper noticed Amak and started growling.  
  
Barely heard over the racket, Amak said, "I suppose I will be leaving now. Good day and good luck." He helped the rest of the crew get the cargo off his cargo speeder and then left for who knew what awaited him.  
  
"Guess we should get going soon," Jess Jess commented to Dantien.  
  
"Jess," he said, sounding a little concerned, "I wonder why he added 'good luck.' We really shouldn't need it if he told us everything we need to know."  
  
"Let's hope it's just a habit of his and not supposed to mean anything." He nodded and the trio headed up the ramp. "Dan, when we arrive in system, I want you at the gunner's station and Baka in the quad laser torrent. Will you tell him for..." She suddenly remembered the tenseness between them. "Never mind. I'll tell him." The only problem was this: She didn't know where he was and they should probably lift off soon. Dantien left for the gunner's station. Prat was probably finishing tying down the new cargo. Baka and Elibex would usually be in their rooms during the day shift, but Baka's room may still not be dry even though it would have had plenty of time had they been grounded with the vents open the whole time. Janua should have been in the cockpit by then.  
  
Jess Jess arrived at the guys' cabin and hit the newly installed annunciater. Baka opened the door and invited her to come in, proving he had more manners than he regularly demonstrated. Once the door shut, she took a look around the room. Most of the furniture had been replaced in their original places and bolted to the floor again. It looked terrible against the hot pink.  
  
"Baka, this room looks dreadful!" she exclaimed. She hadn't even meant to say it; it was just what popped into her head the moment she stepped into the room. He sighed and gave her a very hurt look, the kind Clipper would give her if she refused to share her dinner. "Sorry. I want to tell you that this trip shouldn't take very long. When we come out of hyperspace, I want you in the quad laser torrent. Dan's in the gunner's station, but I need you in the more mobile unit." She then turned and headed to the cockpit, thankful to be out of the clashing colors. 


	6. Torlix Malkus

I almost pity aliens. Their inferior abilities must make it awfully  
difficult to make a living. -Personal Log of General Dalpiez  
  
They had entered the coordinates carefully into the navicomputer. They had lined up on the correct vector closer than usual. They even double-checked everything they did. And they still came out of hyperspace in a system that had no inhabitable planets. They continued on the course, starting to wonder if this Amak Borrit had given them the right coordinates when the comm lines finally lit up, the wide-beam transmission coming from the fourth planet.  
  
"Put it on," Jess Jess curiously told her navigator, who flipped a switch to her right.  
  
"Incoming ship: identify yourself. Is that the Millennium Falcon, the Crusader, or a pregnant B-wing?" The first ship named was also a YT-1300 and by the last statement, the unaccented voice was referring to the B-wing airfoil on the Gungan Vornskr's port cargo hatch. Mirishi had also referred to it, Janua recalled.  
  
After a soft laugh from everyone in the cockpit, the captain of the ship told Janua to contact the colony with the name "Amak Borrit." Hopefully this was the right place.  
  
"*Gungan Vornskr* to unknown colony. Amak Borrit sent us. Where should we land?"  
  
A faint chuckle came over the cockpit speakers. "Good old Torlix Malkus, eh? He sent us our stuff after all. Good. I'm sending you your landing coordinates. Watch your paint and see ya soon."  
  
There was a click and they were on their own. The directions automatically loaded and Jess Jess let the ship run on autopilot along the new vector.  
  
"Must be a tight squeeze if we need to watch our paint," Prat commented with a smile.  
  
Janua frowned. "Who's Torlix Malkus?" The other three in the cockpit shook their heads. No one knew. She thought a moment. "Amak Borrit's cover name or something? But why would he need one with a colony?"  
  
"Maybe it's the other way around," Elibex supposed. "Maybe they didn't want us to know his name, but the guy on the comm slipped." Her friends considered the idea, but either of the thoughts were valid.  
  
"Anyway, I don't see any other ships trying to intercept us yet, but I think we should probably let Baka and Dan stay on the ready," Jess Jess thought aloud. "I have a bad feeling about this." 


	7. Kitzlym IV

I've never been underground before. It almost makes me claustrophobic after  
the openness of space. Even Coruscant isn't so bad; you know it wasn't  
built to completely conceal everything underneath the surface. -Prat's  
Journal  
  
"General," the cheered comm officer called. "Malkus's freighter has arrived!"  
  
General Kurt Dalpiez's hopes leaped as he found out that they would be getting food, spare parts, and other supplies the base needed. Nonetheless, he would appreciate it if the being he would be dealing with was human. His base in the uninhabited Kitzlym system was low on funds and what little they did have was spent on purchasing supplies. They couldn't afford to spend more credits on getting it here and he'd like the captain to understand that.. "Run a voice analysis," he ordered the young lieutenant.  
  
"Already did, sir," he replied, his smile fading. "Almost 87% certainty that it's Twi'lek." The ranking officer frowned then headed up to the landing bay to meet the ship.  
  
"What's Malkus thinking, sending us a ship of nonhumans?" Dalpiez wondered aloud.  
  
As the light freighter touched down, two squads of stormtroopers joined him. He thumbed his comlink on and spoke into it. "Lieutenant Zimel, start jamming their communications." He got an acknowledgement then turned it off and replaced it in his pocket.  
  
By that time, the ship had landed and two aliens and a human were coming down the ramp. In the lead was some exotic alien that wasn't extremely common in the galaxy. Behind it was a Twi'lek, presumably the one on the comm, and a tall man. General Dalpiez turned toward the man as the red striped alien with floppy ears came to a stop in front of him, as standard Kitzlym Base protocol demanded. In his peripheral vision, he saw something flicker across the strange alien's face, probably astonishment or disbelief.  
  
Dalpiez kept his gaze on the human. "Welcome to Kitzlym IV," he said, continuing to ignore the nonhumans.  
  
"Warmest greetings to you, too, sir," the lead *Vornskr* member growled. "I'm the captain, and if you have a problem with that, tell the ship's guard."  
  
He ignored the not-so-subtle threat that happened to be rather meaningless to him and waited for the human to respond. When it was clear the man thought he should be addressing the captain, he smiled and said to him, "Let me introduce myself. I'm General Kurt Dalpiez. And you are."  
  
Their leader spoke again, anger clearly evident in her voice. "I'm Captain Cadyue, to my left is my navigator, Janua Dar, and to my right is my mechanic, Dantien Pindar." She towered over him and it was starting to get on his nerves.  
  
"Then come with me, Mr. Pindar, and we'll discuss just how much to pay you."  
  
Dantien got a diplomatic nod from the captain then went with the Imperial officer to talk. 


	8. Leia Cadyue

Sometimes Baka can be so empty-headed. That's when you slowly turn toward him, look at him real sweetly, and explain it to him step by step in the  
hopes that he'll actually learn something. -Elibex's Diary  
  
"He wouldn't even look at me," Jess Jess complained. "How was I supposed to get him to negotiate with me?" After meeting the general and finding out they had been sent to an Imperial base, they were all quite shaken. Just knowing that a full squad of stormtroopers was standing on the other side of the closed ramp, ready to take control of their ship was unsettling.  
  
"Why didn't you just go with Dan?" Baka asked.  
  
"That would have been a great idea, you nerfherder," Elibex sarcastically told him, "except that there were twenty trigger happy stormtroopers watching."  
  
He let out a sound of finally achieving understanding.  
  
Clipper looked toward the door and growled. Everyone's eyes were trained on it as it softly hissed open, revealing a gleeful Dantien who pulled a chair up to the two couches the others were at and sat. For a few moments, the room seemed more void of sound than the vacuum of space as each of the members expectantly watched Dantien, whose unfocused eyes were lost in thought.  
  
"Well." Prat prompted.  
  
Dantien looked up, his merry grin still plastered on his face. "There really wasn't anything to negotiate." He then named a rather large sum, many times what they'd normally charge for this kind of work.  
  
"Okay," Janua said, addressing the night crew, "why don't you get some sleep? We'll take it from here."  
  
The younger members had smiles growing across their faces and excitement in their voices as they discussed how they were going to spend their share on their way out.  
  
"Dan," Janua said, breaking the silence that had fallen on them, "where do they want their cargo?"  
  
"They don't," he responded, his eyes and thoughts coming back to the here and now. "They're going to come here and unload it piece by piece. He said they were going to scan each box."  
  
*No doubt to see whether we held up our end of the deal,* Jess Jess thought. "Dan, why don't you go try to take Clipper out to stretch his legs? I'm going to go see if I can get in touch with Branlo." She and Dantien left and went their own ways. Once in the cockpit, she powered up the hypercomm. When the door shut, she dialed in the needed information and started to record her message. The distance was too great for her to get an instant connection to Skylkos.  
  
"Branlo, we were employed by a man named Amak Borrit, also known as Torlix Malkus, who gave us coordinates to deliver his cargo to. We came out of hyperspace in the uninhabited Kitzlym system, except that it is inhabited: by an Imperial base on the fourth planet. This information must reach the New Republic. Something must be done about this unknown branch of the Empire. That's all we know for now. I'll contact you with more information when we get it. *Vornskr* out."  
  
Her message was done. That was everything they could tell the Jedi. She sent it and hoped he would get it in time. 


	9. The Message

We'd heard stories about what had happened to the bases the New Republic discovered. They'd come and set fire to the base. Anyone attempting to flee  
would be shot and afterwards, they'd send a proton torpedo to make sure nothing survived. Of course, that raises the question: If nothing survives,  
how do we know? -Personal Log of Lt. Zimel  
  
"Sir," the youthful comm officer called. "They're trying to send a transmission."  
  
General Dalpiez's eyebrows raised as he moved over to the comm station. "How long?"  
  
"Judging by the change in the pitch of the jamming, sir, it was a recorded message of very short length, but enough to tell where we are." Zimel knew what could have resulted if the message had gotten through. All the order he had worked so hard for would be gone, all his training and everything else he had devoted his life to would be rapidly cooling space junk. The New Republic fleet would come and pound the base to smithereens, leaving nothing, not even a blank datapad.  
  
"Good work, lieutenant," the general said, his voice distinctly distracted. To the security officer on duty, he commanded, "Have a security detail meet me in the landing bay. I'm going to go visit our guests." 


	10. Tour of the Base

I admit I'm a little faint-hearted, but I promise I usually have a little more stamina than that. It's just. he surprised me, that's all. -Diary of  
Baka Ma'lik  
  
A soft knock on the closed boarding ramp told Janua that somebody was ready to talk to the crew, or maybe even Jess Jess herself. The navigator pushed in the comlink to the outside. "What do you want?"  
  
An annoyed voice came back to her along with the few sounds of the nearly lifeless landing bay. "Let me in. I want to speak to everyone in your . uh. ship."  
  
She thought a moment. There was no way any Imperials were going to be allowed anywhere on her employer's prized possession. Maybe a compromise could be reached.  
  
"Stay where you are. We'll come out." Whoever was out there, he seemed content with that. "Hey everybody," she yelled down the hall, "get over here. They want to see us." A few seconds later, everyone had assembled by the door except for Baka, who finally got there as Janua put the ramp down. Jess Jess readied herself for another brush with prejudice.  
  
And to the crew's astonishment, there was General Dalpiez himself, alone, with only a few stormtroopers guarding the door to the turbolift.  
  
Dalpiez responded to the obvious speechlessness of the crew by talking first. "Captain Cadyue, I am terribly sorry about how we met earlier. I hope I can make it up to you by taking you on a tour of our fine installation."  
  
Janua thought her Gungan friend was going to faint, but instead, it was Baka. Fortunately, the Imperial ignored her companion's unconsciousness.  
  
Jess Jess thought for a moment then turned toward her second in command. She whispered, "Jan, I'm going to want you to watch the ship. Don't let them come in. If they want the stuff, take everything out to them. I don't want one crate aboard when we leave. Hopefully this won't take long." She then turned to Dantien. "Clipper can stand it on the ship for a while longer, I guess. Unless," she said, carefully raising her voice, "this kind officer would allow me to bring my pet." Her friend took the hint and left to fetch the vornskr's harness and leash. Giving her full attention to her tour guide, she instantly verified that he had been listening.  
  
In fact, he seemed to be getting a bit impatient, having to listen to them converse amongst themselves, seeming to forget that he was even there. "Excuse me. Your pet?" Obviously no one had told him that they had a "harmless" traveling companion.  
  
Janua stepped forward and smiled, showing a threatening display of very sharp teeth. "I believe Jess was about to introduce you to him last time you came. He's merely our ship's guard. No one to worry about."  
  
An uncertain look crossed the dignified man's face as he considered this. He was about to realize how real the threat had been. "As long as he remains under control, he will be allowed to join us." *Besides,* he thought, *I'll have those security officers with me. They can take him for sure.* He sighed, and seemed a bit worried about what might happen. As they waited in silence for Dantien to come back, the night shift crew went back to bed after dragging Baka to the lounge. Not too long later, Clipper finally came around the corner, pulling Dantien behind him. A smile came across Janua and Jess Jess's faces. Contrarily, horror appeared on Dalpiez's. The captain got a firm grip on her pet's leash then walked off the ship, her merriness quickly turning into uncertainty.  
  
"I guess we'll be going now," the general commented nervously as they walked toward the turbolift. "What is that thing anyway?"  
  
Behind them, the boarding ramp shut, the day shift crew presumably taking guard positions. "Clipper is a vornskr, a Force-sensitive creature from Myrkr. They eat reptilian creatures called ysalamiri. They actually get fiercer and more protective when you bob their tails, as Clipper's is." Everything was true except that last bit. Vornskrs really got much tamer once their tails were bobbed, but this Kurt Dalpiez didn't need to know that. 


	11. Stormtrooper Stupidity

I could have laughed out loud when they opened the door to the engine room,  
but they probably would have shot me. -Janua's Log  
  
The turbolift doors slammed shut. Janua Dar was now in charge of the Gungan Vornskr, more in fact. She was now the commanding "officer" of Cadyue Shuttling and Shipping. But now was no time to intimidate herself. She slid down beside the boarding ramp and stared at the opposite wall of the corridor, debating in her mind about whether to open the boxes.  
  
"Jan, someone's here," Dantien called from the quad laser turret, just as the tap on the door reached her. She jumped up and opened it, wondering what the general was doing back so soon and without Jess Jess. When the ramp had fully opened, she found herself staring at a dashing man in either his early thirties or late twenties, around her own age.  
  
"Excuse me, but I believe you have our cargo," he stated, staring at her as if he'd never seen a Twi'lek in his life, but he continued. "May we come aboard and retrieve it?" A good number of stormtroopers stood behind him, no doubt there to make sure she didn't do anything funny.  
  
She knew her choice to refuse them was both the smart and not-so-smart thing to do. By getting the cargo off the ship herself, she could be certain they didn't put a homing beacon on the YT nor take anything for themselves. By not allowing the guys with the blasters on, she ensured that they would not trust the cargo any more. They would surely take longer to check it out and keep them on this miserable planet longer. It was always so hard to get two parties to trust that neither would harm the other when they just plain didn't trust each other.  
  
"No, we'll get it off ourselves. I have orders to make sure that every single molecule gets off the ship." The navigator would have much appreciated it if someone else was dealing with this situation, preferably Jess Jess, but she was the second person hired in the company and therefore the next person in line to negotiate with customers if the owner wasn't available.  
  
"That won't be necessary, ma'am," the man insisted. "We'll take care of it." Janua thought about just telling Dantien to pull the trigger, but it wouldn't accomplish anything. They were going to have to let the Imperials on. She felt bad about getting the others up again, so she decided the two of them could keep the ship safe, maybe.  
  
She stepped back and allowed about five stormtroopers on. The other ten left to fetch the scanning equipment. She followed the ones on the ship to the cargo bay. Of course, it didn't help that they took a wrong turn when they got on board. She had seen the blueprints for the *Millennium Falcon,* and they would have been correct to turn left on that craft. Unfortunately, the only cargo bay on the *Gungan Vornskr* was to the immediate right of the boarding ramp.  
  
The stormtroopers opened the first door on the left and found the engine room. Janua then showed them the correct doorway. They could have spend hours trying to get the right door from where they started and no one wanted them to be onboard that long. She sighed and wished once again that she were either not in charge or more used to commanding the ship. 


	12. Sense of Duty

For all the time I had known Clipper, he had always been perky and glad to meet new people, especially or unless they were Jedi. -Jess Jess's Journal  
  
She opened her eyes, daring to hope it would all be changed, that she wouldn't be here. It was exactly the same. Jess Jess gazed at the one little scratch in the paint on the wall and wondered if this was what Lusankya, the fabled Imperial torture planet, was like. Luckily, she would never know. It was really a Super Star Destroyer and now part of the New Republic Fleet. She thought how she'd gotten here and what she could've done differently.  
  
General Dalpiez had led her and two flanking stormtroopers straight to the detention corridor, occasionally stopping to explain this special barrack or that historical workstation. From the moment he'd met the Imperials, Clipper had been acting up, trying to bite them or use what was left of his venom-coated tail to paralyze them. *He must have sensed their ill will with his Force ability,* she reflected. When Jess Jess finally realized where they were going and released her pet, the guards had proved their reflexes by drawing their blasters and shooting him with a medium-powered stun. She was then defenseless and was shocked by how pitiful he appeared, but he also had a kind of peaceful look on his face, one he only had when sleeping contentedly. Then one of the stormtroopers had hefted his massive weight and, with his partner, marched her to this cell, nonstop. Once they arrived, they dropped Clipper in the room next to hers and sent her in here.  
  
At first, she had waited, hoping that they would decide this was a mistake and let her go home. Then she had tried to sleep, but there were too many unanswered questions in her mind for that. What were they charging her with? Had they intercepted her message to Branlo? If they did, how did they know him? Were they going to arrest her friends? Were they going to use her and Clipper to keep them from telling the New Republic? Or were they just going to put them to work here or at Kessel and keep the Vornskr? She thought it might have been one terrible nightmare, but when she opened her eyes, everything was as real as her self or the galaxy. Everything seemed disconsolate. There was absolutely nothing she could do.  
  
She looked at her chrono. Clipper should have been awake by now, yet no sound could be heard from his cell. A terrible thought came to her mind. *Maybe that five- percent chance of a stun bolt killing proved the statistics on my buddy!*  
  
The captain wondered what would become of her ship and her crew. Hopefully, Janua would know to unload it and get out of here. *They've got to tell the New Republic about this base. A sudden attack from an unknown source would be devastating. Or Bex could work up the nerve to go directly to Rogue Squadron.* For all the time Jess Jess had known her, she had memorized every fact about the group that was publicly available. You could call her a fan.  
  
The plain white walls were really bugging Jess Jess. She stood and walked over to the scratch she'd been staring at. She pulled her pet's nail clippers out of her pocket and started scratching away with all her might. Before Janua had called, she'd been trying to cut the vornskr's fast growing claws.  
  
A tiny flake of paint glided to the floor.  
  
She dropped back on the imitation of a bunk that was the only feature in the room. Silence took over and she stared at the ceiling, wondering if it could be any plainer.  
  
BLANG! The startling noise echoed through the cell, sounding like flesh slamming into the wall, followed by the spine tingling screech of long nails on the durasteel. The latter continued for several minutes while a Gungan smile stretched itself across Jess Jess's face and she breathed a sigh of relief. *Clipper's okay! The stun just knocked him out longer than I expected.* With the scratching infinitely continuing, she knew her faithful pet from Myrkr would try not to rest until he had broken through the indestructible wall. 


	13. Bored MonCal

They constantly watched us, making sure we were quite aware that we stood on their turf. They gave the impression that one wrong move, and we'd be  
chewing on a blaster bolt. -Personal Log of Lt. George  
  
Another stormtrooper came down the hall and exited via the boarding ramp. Elibex sighed and watched him and his team as they took everything out of a crate to scan it piece by piece, just like Dantien had said. This one was full of cleaning supplies. She looked back and confirmed that Baka still occupied the quad laser turret.  
  
The Imperials finished checking that box and came back onto the ship. They marched toward the far entrance of the cargo bay, toward Prat, who was standing by the door to the guys' cabin. She shifted her weight uneasily. They'd be back in another few minutes, she knew. Why they couldn't agree that C.S.S. would leave the cargo and go back to Coruscant, she didn't know. She hated having the Imperials aboard with blasters. They wouldn't need them. Maybe it was symbolic, but the only person they needed to keep in line was Baka, and he only because he was young and didn't grasp the benefits of peace. She believed he was always too ready for action.  
  
Elibex never did like the idea of war, though she understood why it was necessary. If the Rebellion hadn't occurred, her whole species, Mon Calamari, would still be controlled by the racist Empire. She would never have had the chance to get such an interesting job, even if at the moment, the situation was too unpredictable for her tastes.  
  
The scanning team appeared in the cargo bay doorway closest to her with their heavy load. They once again came around the hall and walked down the ramp. This was getting quite boring indeed. 


	14. Gungan Gargoyle?

While I got a lot of thinking done there, I know of better things to spend  
my time doing. -Jess Jess's Journal  
  
The screeching started one more time. Jess Jess opened her eyes and found the scratch in the paint to stare at. When she had finally gotten to sleep, Clipper had to wake up. It was guaranteed to be another uneventful day. *I bet the only thing keeping me sane is my chrono,* she thought. A faint sound could be heard through Clipper's attempted erosion of the wall. He stopped, presumably to listen, just as his master was trying to.  
  
It must have been the door to the main corridor opening and closing. She leaned against the wall by the exit and heard muffled voices through the hatch. Footsteps came toward her and stopped right outside. She thought it might be someone with an interrogator droid. There were terrible stories about the Chief of State's experience with those. She hurried back to the "bunk" and sat, wondering what would become of her or her friends. *Please, whatever you do, don't hurt Clipper!* Her door hissed open to reveal a young man, not much older than Baka. Behind him stood one of the base's guards. He stepped in and allowed the hatch to shut at his back.  
  
When he spoke, his voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd heard it. "So you're that Gungan they picked up." It wasn't a question, but Jess Jess felt she should respond anyway.  
  
"I wouldn't put it that way," she cautiously said. Any wrong move could prompt him to call the guards. She really didn't like the way he looked at her as if she was a nonsentient being. Then she remembered that that was how Imperial supporters were trained to think. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.  
  
"You're not just going to attack me and try to use me to get out?" If anything, this youngster was highly confused.  
  
"No," she replied, "why would I do that? I'm unarmed and the guys on the other side of the door are. Not to mention that they wouldn't let Clipper out no matter what, and I'm not leaving without him."  
  
"Oh. Clipper? You mean you're not leaving here without that gargoyle thing next door?"  
  
That really upset Jess Jess. No one was going to insult her adorable pet with the cute, bent little ears to her face, no matter how much better their position was. "Clipper is not a gargoyle! He's a vornskr!" As if to accent her point, the domesticated animal started scratching away at the wall more fiercely than ever.  
  
The young man got very scared. "You think he needs a tranquilizer?"  
  
"No, if you don't insult him, he'll quiet down in a while. I love my pet and if you make fun of him in front of me, I won't be happy. He'll know and start damaging your beautifully white walls."  
  
"Okay, I bet he's the best, uh, vornskr ever." An uneasy silence emerged, making Jess Jess wonder what he had really come here for.  
  
Finally, she just gave up and asked, "What do you want with me? Why did you come here?"  
  
He moved over to the corner of the small room and leaned against the two walls. "I wanted to see if aliens were really like they are in the holodramas."  
  
Jess Jess laughed, but tried not to give any hints to this guy that she was doing so. *That's the absolute stupidest reason I ever heard for anyone wanting to meet me!* "Am I?" She knew how the Imperial holodramas portrayed nonhumans: like monsters, Gamorrean nerfherders. It was inexcusable.  
  
"No," he admitted, "you actually remind me of my sister."  
  
Her eyes momentarily widened before she forced all expression from her face, even though she didn't really think he could read Gungan expressions that well. If she reminded him of his family, he may be more willing to help her out. "How so?"  
  
"She was always very logical and wasn't too quick to pass judgment. We always thought she was rather strange because she socialized with." No one had to say the last word. His eyes flicked momentarily to his toes and then back to Jess Jess. "I should probably go now."  
  
Even if he was an Imperial, his company was enjoyed. He was the first person to talk to her since General Dalpiez's pawns had thrown her in here. She could tell he was beginning to reevaluate his own opinions of aliens. That was good. "So you're going to leave me in here, all alone. The least you could do is send Clipper in. It's in everyone's best interests. You guys don't care what happens to him, so it won't hurt you to put him in with me. He may even be so hungry, he'll rid you of me." What she didn't tell him was that vornskrs formed a special bond with those who played with them and fed them, as she did.  
  
"I'll see what I can do. No promises." She nodded, so he went to the door and knocked. The guard on the other side opened it and let him out, all the while with his blaster trained on the prisoner. It shut and she moved over to the door. Muffled voices came to her ear. Two minutes later, the hatch hissed up again and an unconscious Clipper was shoved in, but not all the way. She helped the guard get him a bit further in, albeit not as roughly.  
  
At least she wouldn't be alone anymore. Clipper would keep her company, even if the mysterious man didn't come back. She didn't want to admit it, but there was a much greater chance that he wouldn't return than the opposite. 


	15. Overstayed Welcome

At that moment, I knew that Clipper might not be coming home. I think  
it's the kind of feeling a parent gets when their child leaves to  
fight in a war. -Prat's Journal  
  
Janua stood in the cargo bay, thinking. All the crates were gone at last, but there was one problem. Where was Jess Jess? No tour should have taken this long. It'd been three days since she left. Where was the captain? They were going to be cleared to leave soon, but they needed someone to keep them organized.  
  
"Any news about Clipper?" Dantien asked from behind her.  
  
She started and turned, wondering when he had come in. "Dan!" she scolded, "you're more worried about Clipper than your friend who gives you your paycheck?"  
  
"He likes me."  
  
She shook her head and decided to answer his question. "No, the Imperials haven't said anything. Maybe we'll hear something from them soon. Anyway, I'm a little hungry, what about you?"  
  
He nodded. "Let's go get something to eat."  
  
On their way to the kitchen, Janua caught a glimpse of a flashing red light in the cockpit. "Dan, wait up, someone's trying to talk to us." That was especially strange since neither of them could think of anyone that they would want to talk to way out here. It must have been the Imperials.  
  
They entered and she flipped the switch to reply to the hail. "*Gungan Vornskr* to Kitzlym IV, what's up?"  
  
A couple seconds went by then, "-ou're on, sir."  
  
"Oh, okay," a second hushed voice replied to the first. She tentatively identified it as General Dalpiez. "Gungan Vornskr, you may leave any time you wish, but I warn you: if you report our existence to the New Republic, you will regret it immensely. We have your captain and your. uh, vornskr." The implied threat startled the two crew members. That would be where Jess Jess and Clipper were. Now, what were they going to do about it?  
  
"Th-thank you for the warning. I think we'll be on our way now," Janua eventually answered a bit shakily. She disconnected the link and jabbed the intercom button to her cabin that she shared with Elibex. "Bex, sorry to do this to you, but we need you up here to fly this thing. Bex?"  
  
There was a small thud, then a drowsy voice came on. "Okay, be there in," she yawned, "a couple minutes." 


	16. Tempting Fate

A friend in need deserves Jedi indeed. -Wesba  
  
Elibex had kept to her promise and sleepily climbed into the pilot's chair. "Okay, I think I'm awake now," she commented, her voice sounding a tad more energetic than a few minutes ago. "What do you want me to do?"  
  
Janua took her station and Dan left for the gunner's compartment. After all, if this was a trick and TIEs were following, lasers might not be the optimal defense to keep them at bay. Every now and then, Jess Jess had been able to bargain for a proton torpedo, which had come in handy the couple times they'd been greeted by pirates.  
  
"Seal this thing up and get us out of here!" the Twi'lek commanded.  
  
Elibex's yellow eyes widened as she asked, "What about Captain Cadyue?"  
  
"Hopefully Clipper's with her," was all the navigator could think to say. She had been friends with her employer for four years, so it wasn't exactly easy for her to give the order to lift off when the Gungan wasn't aboard, much less imprisoned by Imperials.  
  
The two were solemnly silent as the salmon colored pilot powered up the ship and started preflight checks. Barely ten minutes later, she switched on the repulsorlifts and clumsily guided it up and through the magnetic containment field in the ceiling. The upcoming tunnel through which they had entered was hardly forty meters in diameter. There wasn't much more than three meters to spare on each side, which didn't make either of the senior members comfortable with such an inexperienced pilot at the controls.  
  
Janua breathed a sigh of relief as the end appeared and they exited the wretched planet. "Now where do we go?"  
  
A click sounded in the cockpit as Dantien activated the intercom from his station. "I say we go to Skylkos and see if Branlo's up to aggressively negotiating Jess out. We can see if he needs anything shipped and meet her back on Naboo." A second later, he realized the topic was up to a quite a bit of debate and there were clear skies behind them. "Hang on; I'm coming up."  
  
A few seconds later, the improvised day shift crew was together in the cockpit, trying to decide where to go, though it was obvious anywhere was better than the system they were in.  
  
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Janua disagreed. "Don't you remember that Jess said she didn't want us to depend on him too much?"  
  
"We haven't asked him for anything!" he argued.  
  
"But we might get into a more desperate situation than this sooner than you'd think."  
  
"What can be more desperate than having the captain trapped alone in an Imperial base?"  
  
"Ooh! You're just tempting fate," the Twi'lek suggested. This was getting them exactly nowhere. She glanced at the other nonhuman in the cockpit. "What do you think, Bex?"  
  
Until now, she had been leaning back in the pilot's chair, still trying to wake up. "Huh? What? Oh, where. Uh, I think that both of you have a point. But the New Republic has to know what's going on, and we're the only ones in a position to tell them. Coruscant should be as good a destination as any; at least we know where to go for dinner."  
  
The other two agreed, so they set the navicomp for the capital and made the jump into hyperspace, leaving their captain imprisoned on a hostile world. 


	17. Vornskr Approval

Of all the people who have met Clipper, Zimel's reaction stands out the  
most in my mind. -Jess Jess's Journal  
  
"Clipper!" Jess Jess exclaimed to the bulky form snoring on her lap. "I know where I remember that guy from!" The brown and black vornskr sighed, shifted his weight slightly, and went back to sleep. "He's the guy on the comm!" As if on cue, the door to the cell slid open, revealing the mysterious visitor. With it, Clipper's head raised also.  
  
Once the door had shut, he stood there, seemingly not knowing what to do or say. His eyes fell upon the vornskr, and Clipper, sensing his trepidation, gazed uncertainly at Jess Jess. He had encountered such fear before, but this time, he knew through the Force that his master was also somewhat afraid of the man.  
  
The tall Gungan stood, remembering the awkward circumstances under which they had first met. She extended her hand for a handshake. "In case you were not informed, nonhumans have names too. I'm Jess Jess Cadyue, captain of the *Gungan Vornskr* and owner of Cadyue Shuttling and Shipping."  
  
The young officer stared at her outstretched hand, her long painted nails. Finally, his mind returned from wondering thoughts. "Um, I'm Lieutenant Thomas Zimel." He apparently had no idea what else to say. They shook and she sat again on the rectangular "bunk."  
  
"I'm surprised you came back, that I didn't scare you away the first time we met."  
  
"Should I have been?" he inquired, his gaze turning to Clipper's large teeth and half cut claws. *Now that's a face only a mother could love,* he thought. *I wonder how she can even keep him in her sight.* "I thought you said that he might eat you if we put him in here. Somehow, I think you knew he wouldn't; though he doesn't look all that ferocious at the moment." *Only because he's not moving or looking at me.*  
  
"Vornskrs make very good pets, particularly because they warm up to you if you feed them, play with them, and don't use the Force. I bet he's discouraged many a burglar simply by growling." The meter tall quadruped yawned, slid off the bunk, and stretched, his front paws reaching almost his full length in front of him. "He's awake, but he shouldn't bother you if you let him smell your hand."  
  
A petrified Zimel stood stock still with both his palms open and his shoulders raised almost to his ears, as if someone had hit a pause button in the middle of a shrug. All his menace did to him was to cock his head at him at let out a little whine. Meanwhile, the other occupant of the room burst out in uncontrollable laughter.  
  
"I meant if he comes over to you. He doesn't see you as much of a threat now," she managed to get out between laughing fits. She realized not many people had been aboard her ship and met her pet. Clipper glanced around, looking for something to chew on. When no bone or ball was found, he curled up once again, bored.  
  
The Imperial officer relaxed and tried to come up with a conversation starter. "So. What's your ship like? I've never seen such an interesting one. Merkain, the tactical officer, said it registered a Corellian YT-1300 and half a B-wing."  
  
"When I first rebuilt it," she said, thinking back seven years, "it kept leaning toward port. The repulsorlifts on that side don't get enough power and it needed more lift, so we put the airfoil on. It also has the added benefit of extra defense. Too many pirates try to get our cargo." She was still remembering that scene on Tatooine, the two ships half buried in the sand when the inexperienced officer next spoke.  
  
"How many have you seen?" Excitement was quite evident in his voice as he remembered all the adventures he thought he'd have in the Empire.  
  
The red and tan alien felt a slight twinge of embarrassment. He had misunderstood her; her wording wasn't as accurate as it could have been. "To meet any pirate is to meet too many. Thank goodness we only met two, and I think they were working together. We were in the Nal Hutta system then, employed by some Hutt."  
  
Silence took over the room again. Their conversation came to an abrupt end when a tap sounded on the door, beckoning the lieutenant to leave. "Bye," he said with a quickly extinguished smile. He slipped through the door before she could respond. 


	18. Coruscant Traffic Control

Ah, to come home to Coruscant - and fried granite slug on a stick! -Diary  
of Baka Ma'lik  
  
The familiar alarm started and after two beats, Prat slapped the "off" button. The rest of the crew knew they'd be coming out of hyperspace soon. Elibex slowly reached toward the button and pushed it again, causing the system to blurt at them.  
  
"It's already off," he reminded her.  
  
She nodded. "It is, isn't it?" Her eyelids drooped even lower over her large, red-speckled eyes. She had been up since they left Kitzlym, and by now, the shifts had changed again. Because she was the one who was most familiar with the controls, she had to get them out of hyperspace and land only ten kilometers from the Imperial Palace. If they didn't crash into the capital building, they'd be doing good.  
  
The counter continued to wind down. When it reached five seconds, Prat shouted, "Zero!" The pilot reached out and gently pulled the hyperspace exit lever back just as the timer really reached zero. The dizzy mottling gradually faded down into individual stars, arranged in a pattern that confirmed that they were in the correct system. The fact that the planet hung like a sparkling orb ahead and to port also helped.  
  
He breathed a sigh of relief. "A little off, but not bad," he muttered. Glancing at his coworker, he saw that her eyes were almost closed now. "Maybe Jan would like to land us. Why don't you sit in the observer's seat?"  
  
Elibex dragged herself out of the chair and barely made it to the one behind her before falling sound asleep.  
  
"Guess you are tired." He thought a moment about letting the second in command doze and flying down by himself, but his confidence in his abilities was limited to just getting them in orbit if he was lucky.  
  
A small red light started flashing on the console at the same time a bored voice sounded through the cockpit. "Incoming ship, this is Coruscant Traffic Control. Please state your destination."  
  
He held down a button beside the light. "*Gungan Vornskr* to traffic control, please hold on just a moment." He brought the ship to a stop. When he heard no immediate reply, he knew he had to hurry to keep any and all suspicions calmed. Other spacecraft, larger and smaller than the old light freighter, sped irritably past.  
  
The Tatooinian left the cockpit and went across the hall to the girls' cabin, knocking when he arrived and wondering if he was waking her from much needed sleep. The door slid open, revealing one aggravated Twi'lek.  
  
"Elibex has gotten better. I barely felt the landing. So, what's wrong now?"  
  
"We haven't landed yet." One of her almost-blue eyebrows shot up, proving that she was still alert enough to listen. "Bex fell asleep."  
  
An almost-growl escaped from the senior member. "You've been a navigator for over two years. You've watched Jess and Bex operate the controls. There's absolutely no reason you can't land with Baka's help. We don't need the weapons anyway; he's probably pretty bored about now. CTC will give you instructions. Good luck." With that, she closed the door and left him to fend for himself.  
  
He forlornly wandered back down the hall to the gunner's station. When he glimpsed in, the room was completely empty. *Great,* he thought, *he left his post. He's probably just goofing off.* Sure enough, the Bothan was leaning back on the couch in the rec. room, watching his favorite holodrama.  
  
"Baka.," he said, his exasperation apparent. He had the satisfaction of seeing the other jump.  
  
The hotshot gunner turned his head with a shake of his fur indicating polite disagreement with his commander's tone of voice. Actually, Prat was only just above the teen in the command chain. "Yes, what's up?"  
  
"You're going to get some experience in the cockpit today," Prat told him. "You need to get up there and help me land."  
  
At this, Baka stopped the holodrama, and looked at him in disbelief. "You're going to let me fly?" Then he remembered why he had never flown before. "What about Bex?"  
  
"Asleep."  
  
"Jan?"  
  
"She told me to let you navigate." At least, that's how he'd interpreted what she said.  
  
"Okay, let's go!" For sure, he would have been happier if he'd been allowed to pilot, but being allowed in the cockpit at all *and* getting to operate something was the next best thing.  
  
The two left the room to land the ship. When they reached the cockpit, a worried voice was being emitted from the speakers. "Do you need assistance? Is there some way we can help? Hello?"  
  
Prat frowned and pressed the button to respond, reflexively sitting in the copilot's seat. Baka took the other. "*Gungan Vornskr* to traffic control. We're just fine now."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes. We'd like to land in the palace district."  
  
There was comm silence for a few seconds as the controllers came out of their alarmed state and settled in to find an appropriate vector for the strange ship. "Uh, here you go. Nice and easy. Have a nice day now."  
  
"Thanks. You too." He breathed a sigh of relief and entered the transmitted coordinates into the navicomp, hoping that they could make it to the surface without a problem.  
  
His auxiliary partner could barely contain his joy at the possibility of being the one to actually pilot them down. "So I get to fly after all?"  
  
Prat glared at him. "No." He set the controls so that Baka would barely have to do a thing other than tell him where the storm systems were. Coruscant was known to have some nasty thunderstorms a little more often than most other planets. "Just tell me where not to fly."  
  
The Bothan's disappointment was almost tangible. "Oh," he moaned, "why not? You've never flown before either."  
  
"But I've seen both Jess and Bex land us several times."  
  
"What if you're not half as good as Bex?" he said, raising his voice a little too loud for even his own ears.  
  
"Shush! Don't wake her up!" the Tattooinian whispered, motioning to the sleeping fish. "I'm going to have to be." With that, he sat and started bringing them into the atmosphere, ending their conversation.  
  
The freighter floated through the clouds, occasionally losing quite a bit of altitude and jerking from side to side, bucking from the air resistance.  
  
"Even Bex is better at landing," the improvised copilot muttered, not meaning for the other to hear.  
  
"Yeah, well you couldn't do much better," he replied harshly, not taking his eyes from their landing platform. As they dropped to ten meters, he brought the repulsorlifts online and somewhat gradually lowered the thrust to zero.  
  
"Now here's the tough part, right?"  
  
"No, now's the part where you be quiet so I can concentrate." For once, it seemed Baka didn't have a good response for something, so he did as was requested of him. Prat lowered the power to the repulsorlifts a little at a time, but not as smoothly as he could have. Still, the ship clunked to the landing platform in one piece. From the turbolift came a small medical team. *Wonderful,* he thought, *I fly the ship and they send a medical team to see what's wrong.* He once again went down the hall to open the landing ramp. At the bottom were the four members of the emergency medical team.  
  
"Where's your pilot? Does he need help?" the first concerned person asked. She immediately came running up the ramp, barely stopping in time to avoid knocking over the annoyed navigator.  
  
"I'm him. I've never flown before. Jan needs to speak to the authorities." He then realized these people didn't know who Janua was.  
  
"Are you okay?" He didn't know why, but he was starting to think no one in the galaxy had any confidence in him. It seemed like nobody trusted him to tell the truth just because he was landing on Coruscant and had never flown before. There must have been many other people in that situation. or maybe not.  
  
"I'm fine. Can you tell me where to go to speak to the authorities? Please?" At least he had until his shift was over to find out where to send the other navigator. On the other hand, there was the whole remainder of his shift for something else to go wrong.  
  
"I don't know. Will you come with me, or are you sure you're not injured. Is there anyone else who can verify that you're okay?" With perfect timing, Baka walked around the bend.  
  
Prat stared at him, trying to scare him into telling the truth instead of saying that he had gotten hit in the head with a huge falling beam just for the fun of it. "It really is his first time flying. I've never piloted either, but we were the only ones available to land the *Vornskr.*" Had Clipper been there, Prat would have told him to "sick" the slender Bothan. He was going to gloat about this for months if Prat knew him at all. But it was better than being put in a bacta tank for no reason.  
  
The lead medical team member looked dubious, but she accepted the excuse. "If you don't feel good, don't hesitate to go to the med center." They turned and left.  
  
"Bad day. Bad day. Bad day," the Tatooinian commented to no one in particular. Baka just looked at him. 


	19. Bocce & Breakins

Do they have Corellian style restaurants on Corellia? -Diary of Baka Ma'lik  
  
"They said what?" Janua exclaimed. The shifts had changed once again and Prat was taking a few minutes to tell her and Dantien what had happened.  
  
"They suggested that I go to the hospital. On the way down, I wasn't exactly the steadiest pilot. They must have thought I was having a heart attack." Everyone laughed. "But beware of the Ma'lik; he'll be bragging for months." Once the other two were almost quiet again, he said, "Well, good luck. Don't tell customs where we came from or Jess'll have to stay put until we have a chance to get someone else to rescue her. Good night." Then he left for the pink room. It was so quiet, you could have heard the padding of a pitton if there was one.  
  
"He's right," the blue Twi'lek said, breaking the eerie silence, "we'd better get a move on."  
  
The two gathered a few things and some credits before leaving. Since Clipper wasn't there, they dug out the half-burnt instruction manual from the cockpit and eventually figured out how to lock the ramp behind them. As they made their way down a few stories to Coruscant Customs, they discussed whom they should reveal Kitzlym to. It was a delicate subject as far as they were concerned; if anyone came into the system with weapons blazing, the Imperials would be sure to exterminate both their friend and her beloved pet.  
  
"We could bring it up at the next Senatorial session."  
  
"What, and have them take months just to decide where the planet is and if Imperials are a threat?" she pointed out.  
  
"Just brainstorming," Dantien replied defensively. Now they were in the cavernous Coruscant Customs, and with the jumpy security, they decided to change the subject.  
  
Two hours later, after standing in a slow, endless string of impatient sentients, the Twi'lek and Alderaanian were unconsciously heading to the restaurant the crew always met at.  
  
"They really could have picked a better actor to play Solinar," commented Janua.  
  
"I don't know. I thought he was pretty good," replied the mechanic. "What'd you think was wrong with his performance?"  
  
"His performance was fine, but in the book, they described him as being." Her argument trailed off as they came to a stop in front of Car'ulorn's Kavsrach. "Wait a minute. Weren't we going to go to." Again, she stopped in midsentence, not because she had thought of another, more important subject to bring up. She didn't know how to finish it. Neither of them knew where they were going; they just knew where they were and what they had to accomplish.  
  
"To tell someone about," he said, unsuccessfully trying to finish her question. He did not want to say the planet's name out loud for fear an Imperial spy, namely Amak Borrit, might overhear and tell the general to get rid of Jess Jess.  
  
She nodded. "We could talk to one of the senators, but I wouldn't trust everyone."  
  
"Agreed. How about Admiral Ackbar."  
  
"I think the Chief of State's nicer. Can you find her house?"  
  
"I've seen this really nice one many times while we're landing. It could be hers." They turned and headed in the direction he thought would lead them to the correct place. Speeders of every make, model, and color zoomed by, adding sound to their silent musings. As they were getting closer, Dantien muttered, "I don't like this."  
  
"What?"  
  
"That blue convertible's gone by four times at least," he replied, staring into the traffic.  
  
The Twi'lek raised a dark eyebrow. "You've been counting?" Disbelief made her voice stand out over the drone of the countless other conversations on the sidewalks. "And you're sure it's the same one?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
She shook her head and they continued in silence.  
  
Finally, Dantien spoke again. "There," he said, pointing to the top of a nearby skyscraper. "I think that's it."  
  
As they looked around for an entrance into the building, the speeder slowed to a stop behind them. "Jettoz. Nockneez, kiladez."  
  
Janua looked back to see the Sullustan in the vehicle staring straight at them. "Well, so much for that idea," she grumbled to her coworker.  
  
"What do you mean?" He was astonished and outraged at her willingness to give up when they were this close. How else were they going to get Jess Jess out without calling Wesba?  
  
"We could always come back, but let's see what he wants. After all, Leia could be out of town."  
  
He reluctantly followed her toward the mousy figure that didn't act or look threatening, but he seemed to be very powerful. "Kiladez, nockneez," he called again. They sat down in the back seat of the speeder, wondering what he wanted. There was a kind of benevolence about him that let them know they could at least trust him not to blindfold them and take them to some unheard of Outer Rim system without a very good reason. "Zanki."  
  
Dantien leaned over to his friend as the driver pulled into the traffic. "You do know what he's saying, right?" he asked shakily.  
  
"You don't?" she replied with a wry smile. She looked toward the mysterious driver. "Tuz de ju mugee hyperspaaze?"  
  
His high pitched laugh pierced the wind. "Noza; dopeelya puka!"  
  
She smiled at the remark.  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"I asked if we would be jumping to hyperspace. He said we wouldn't; it's only an in-system rental!"  
  
"If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were drunk."  
  
She turned back to the Sullustan. "Meez noza batza bazic."  
  
His eyebrows flicked up momentarily, his mouth caught half open. "You're right, the Chief of State's out of town. Have you not seen the HoloNet for a while?"  
  
Poor Dantien was so confused, he resigned himself not to speak until they were back to the Vornskr.  
  
"No, we haven't. We just got back. What makes you think we were going to try to see her anyway?"  
  
The driver chose to ignore the question and continued on his own train of thought. "There's a huge jamming and interdiction field in the Corellian system, where she is." With that, he pulled the speeder to a stop in front of the spaceport. "Koo-looz."  
  
The shipmates got out and worked their way back to their YT-1300.  
  
"That just makes me feel wonderful!" Dantien exclaimed sarcastically. "Some guy out there was following us, knew we were trying to see the Chief of State, and knew what spaceport we're docked at!"  
  
"He's probably a security guard," she replied smoothly, "just doing his job."  
  
"By the way, what'd you say to him to get him to switch to basic?"  
  
"'I know you speak basic.'"  
  
"How'd you know?"  
  
"Just playing a hunch. It's a lot easier on Coruscant if you know basic."  
  
By then, they were at the ship with one problem: they'd locked themselves out.  
  
"Great. We might as well go back." The very thought of standing in the customs line again made both of them shudder.  
  
"Wait," Dantien told her as he walked around to the starboard side.  
  
"Why? What are you doing?" She followed him and a contemplative look came onto her face. He merely stood there, studying the loading port.  
  
"I can break in." He glanced around, searching for some unseen treasure. Whether he needed a hydrospanner or dropped credits, Janua couldn't tell, but she was shocked at the suggestion of breaking and entering their own ship.  
  
"Great, so somebody'll see us and report us. And because half of C.S.S. will be in prison, we'll rely on Baka to get us all out!"  
  
"Then go stand by the turbolift and look like you belong." Suddenly, his eyes lit up like a teenager getting his first, brand new speeder and his search was over. He trotted around the ship that was docked beside them and came back a few minutes later with a large, curved piece of scrap metal.  
  
"Now what are you doing?"  
  
He hefted the durasteel to cover the six indentations around the door. "Hold this." She cautiously moved closer and kept the heavy piece from falling.  
  
Meanwhile, the mechanic climbed up to the keypad on the inside of the rim and tapped in a code that only the day shift crew knew. A few seconds passed and she realized that the scrap was to trick the scanners into thinking another ship was here. More time went by as the air pressure was checked. Finally, the airlock noisily slid open. Dantien rolled into the empty room. "And you wanted to go stand in the customs line again. Ha!" He turned to help the other up.  
  
"Uh-oh," she muttered as the other door to the room hissed open.  
  
"Don't move!" a forbidding yet familiar voice commanded from the hatchway. The navigator pulled herself the rest of the way in while the figure fumbled in the dark for the light switch. Once he saw who the intruders were, Prat was stunned. "Jan! Dan! I thought you guys were."  
  
"That just proves how bad those lines are, that we'd rather break into our own ship instead of going through them again."  
  
She grudgingly stared at him, not wanting to admit that he was right.  
  
"What?" 


	20. Interrogation

Usually, Clipper gets his exercise by going on long walks with Dan on whatever planet we're on. If we're restricted to the ship, they do laps in  
the hall. On Kitzlym, we made do with what we had. -Jess Jess's Journal  
  
He pranced around, trying to jump up on his master while not letting her grab his paws. She stepped back and half-turned, sending the vornskr flying halfway across the room, which wasn't far considering it was a small cell. He jumped back up and lightly bit her striped forearm.  
  
"At least we finally found something to do," Jess Jess breathlessly commented to her satisfied pet. He sat and stared at her with his large, pure brown eyes, his ears perked half way up. His head was stuck out far from his body and the stump of his tail heavily beat against the white tile floor, looking all the world like he was saying, "Why'd you stop?" Then he sensed how tired she was and jumped up on the "bunk" to curl up in a circle of fur. She had barely just laid down beside him when the door hissed open.  
  
The familiar lieutenant stepped in and tossed her two ration bars one at a time. "The chocolate's for Clipper." The vornskr merely lifted his head, recognized the visitor, and went back to sleep. *Some guard,* she thought.  
  
"Thanks." A glance at the traladon ribs flavored food told her she'd probably be switching with Clipper. No one could say that she was thrilled at the thought of Corellian cuisine.  
  
She then remembered her crew and ship. Three days had passed since the "tour of the base." Had no one wondered what had happened to her, or had something happened to them? Was Dan in the next cell over without her knowing? It was possible, even if slightly unlikely, that a comm officer might know. "How's my ship?"  
  
His eyebrows dropped in an expression the Gungan had long since learned meant confusion. "I thought you knew." The way he said it inspired dread in her. Was it worse than she'd thought; could the Imperials have harmed her employees in Clipper's absence?  
  
She shook her long head, causing her floppy ears to sway back and forth. "You're the only one brave enough to talk to me," she replied, forgetting for a moment to be sarcastic.  
  
"Well, once you left, we got the cargo off. No one."  
  
"I told Jan to take it out to you! Why would she have let Imperials on my ship?"  
  
Zimel was speechless at her prejudiced statement. Of course, she had more reason to dislike Imperials than they had to hate nonhumans. "Uh, I. I don't think she had much of a choice. We'd 've gotten on no matter what. I was going to say that none of them were happy about it. My friend, George, was one of the people to go on. He said that he didn't like having his back turned to your people either."  
  
The captain was surprised. She thought stormtroopers were never nervous. So much for that idea.  
  
"Then we contacted them and told them what had happened to you. After that, they left and it looked like they went back to Coruscant."  
  
They were silent for a moment as Jess Jess thought about this new information. Finally, her voice filled with disbelief of the legendary stupidity of Imperials, she told him, "They're going to come back for me. We're all friends and unless you took Baka, we'd be back for anyone."  
  
A smirk appeared on his comparatively small face. "I know. The general's counting on that. That's why we didn't pull this on any of the other freighters."  
  
One of the Gungan's elevated eyebrows lowered. "What do you mean? They're going to come back with as much help as possible, though I don't know why they'd go to Coruscant. I guess they decided against Jedi help."  
  
"You know Jedi?" he exclaimed, suddenly scared that their plan might backfire. If they brought Jedi here instead of a fleet of ships like they were supposed to. "I think I'd better go now." He absently walked back to the door and tapped. It immediately slid open, revealing many more people than were usually outside her cell. After he was through, the door didn't close, but the guards did have an eye on her. The comm officer whispered to another man for a minute. Clipper stood and tried to get over to the door, but she held him back by his ID collar. The watching guards seemed surprised by this benevolent act as if they hadn't believed Zimel when he told them she wasn't demonic. Or had he told them? Well, this wasn't a merely amiable visit. Maybe that was his initial intention, but she had some things to remember from what he'd said. Obviously, her friends were fine. They had gone to get help, but that's what the general had wanted. Hopefully, they wouldn't be able to get the military involved. Maybe something had gone wrong with the Solos' upcoming visit to Corellia, Han Solo's homeworld. In any case, there may be a tracking device onboard her ship. Janua might have checked for one, but she probably wouldn't know what to look for. After all, they weren't smugglers.  
  
Out in the hall, Zimel moved across from her room and the other man stepped in. "Hello." He motioned to a guard who moved forward to take Clipper by the collar.  
  
"Oh, here," the Gungan said. She took his leash out of her pocket and clipped it onto his collar. Turning to her pet, she whispered, "Be good." The startled Imperial took the leash, his body tensing somewhat. When he was standing still out in the corridor, she commanded, "Sit." The obedient vornskr did as he was told and the Imperial officer that stood in front of her was quite astounded.  
  
His eyes flicked from the creature to the captive. "Anyway. I have a few questions for you to answer."  
  
"And I, you." Because of her seated position, she was forced to look up at him. She took the liberty of asking first to see how he would react. "Why do you want the *Gungan Vornskr* to come back?"  
  
"In your opinion, what is the economic state of the New Republic?" She noticed that he had only answered her question with another one.  
  
"Pretty good. Almost everybody needs something to go somewhere."  
  
"I didn't ask how business was going; I asked about the economic state of the New Republic."  
  
"On a whole, I couldn't tell you; ask your representative in the Senate. Based on my business, I gave you an answer." Even though the officer wasn't satisfied, Jess Jess knew her logic could not be discredited.  
  
He sighed and continued with his questions. "What security measures are set up around Coruscant?"  
  
He must have wanted to know so that they could be prepared to overwhelm the security forces. They probably wanted to take Coruscant back for the Empire. Well, she wasn't about to give anything like that to nerfherders like this. She never paid that much attention anyway. It would be pointless. "Why do you want the *Gungan Vornskr* to return?" she asked again.  
  
He thought for a moment. *Maybe if I answer her question, she'll answer mine. It's a fair trade.* "If you really must know, we want to test the D- BAM on them. Now, what kind of security do they have around the Imperial City?"  
  
"I never really studied it. I know they're there, but I never paid attention to them."  
  
"Do you know any of the kinds of ships they have?"  
  
"No. What's a D-BAM?"  
  
"It stands for Durasteel- Bacterial Acid Missile. Are the various fleets of the New Republic ready to assemble quickly?"  
  
Did they think she was the Chief of State or something? There was no possible way she could answer that. Besides, she wasn't just going to stand by while they shoot prototype weapons at her friends and her ship! "You shoot the *Vornskr,*" she warned, pointing to Clipper, "and that vornskr will have his way with you!" She knew, of course, that her pet wouldn't hurt the Imperials too much. Or so she thought; she'd never seen him when he was really mad. He might be inspired enough to seriously go after them.  
  
He seemed rather taken aback by this. She had seemed so polite and docile when he had first arrived, but now the tall nonhuman was outraged. Nodding to the guard to give the beast back to Captain Cadyue, he stepped out of the cell and left. As soon as the sentry was out again, which was not long, the door was shut and the occupants of the cell could hear the two recent visitors conversing on their way down the hall. This was definitely not an uneventful day. 


	21. Academy Dropout

I couldn't stop thinking about the Sullustan in the blue speeder. Short of  
being a Jedi, how could he have known where to drop us off? Security  
workers don't usually track inconspicuous travelers. -Janua's Log  
  
Behind the desk, Janua was seated, recalling that this was where she had had her job interview. She'd always imagined that her job would take her across the starry black void of space, but she'd never in her wildest dreams thought that the interview for that job would take place on the ship that would become her future home. She glanced down at the datapad screen that showed all the ideas she had come up with that might help them get her employer back where she belonged. Maybe it was time to ask Branlo or Wesba for their help. After all, neither she nor Dantien could think of anyone else that might be willing to help. The New Republic had other things to worry about and wouldn't want to bother investigating a "possible" Imperial threat.  
  
The door to the hall opened and the Twi'lek was glad for the interruption. Anything that could give her something else to think about she counted as a blessing. Elibex strode in and took a seat across the small desk from Janua.  
  
"I thought you'd be asleep by now. It's 15:00 hours." Janua looked at the sleepy night shift pilot, wondering why in the galaxy she'd stay up this late.  
  
"I couldn't sleep," explained the fish-eyed alien. "I can't help but wonder how we're going to get Captain Cadyue back."  
  
"I was thinking about that myself, but other than our Jedi friends on Skylkos, I don't think anyone would be willing to help us." Looking again at her list, she frowned. *It's not like her to come here in the middle of the afternoon just to talk about not being able to get Jess back. She's too optimistic for that.*  
  
"Have you thought about Emaz Sneet? He'd probably have the resources to help us."  
  
"You mean that Gand we met last year that spoke good Basic?"  
  
She nodded her large, salmon-colored head. "Yeah, him."  
  
The blue sentient recalled the strange businessman. Physically, there was nothing outstanding about him, but whereas other Gand had their own strange obsession about not using pronouns, Emaz spoke regular Basic. Being the vice president of a fuel company, albeit a minor one, he did indeed have resources at his disposal. He did not, however, posses the kind of resources they would probably need. As far as she knew, they either had to break Captain Cadyue out or persuade them to give her up. Imperials weren't known for being pushovers that would give you anything you wanted if you asked nicely. You could most likely bring in the best negotiator in the galaxy and they wouldn't budge. The only way they could get her back would be to bring in a fleet to pound the base until they surrendered or get a couple sneaky Jedi to go in.  
  
"Well, I feel better now that I've told you." Elibex yawned and stood, heading for the door. "I'll probably be able to sleep now."  
  
Janua nodded and joined her coworker at the door. "Okay. It's worth a try. We'll be heading out soon."  
  
"Do you want me to stay up and fly?"  
  
"No, just show me what some of the viewscreens mean and I think I can handle it." Together, they walked to the cockpit where Dantien was tinkering with some wires.  
  
He looked up at the two entering sentients, wondering why the Mon Calamari was awake. When they started looking over the pilot controls, he put two and two together and hurriedly connected the hanging wires. "Where to, Jan?"  
  
"Uh, hang on a sec." She continued whispering to her roommate. "So this is the starboard camera, that's the ship-showing. thing, and this is the engine efficiency?" After getting a nod from her, the Twi'lek looked back at the mechanic. "Last I heard, Mr. Sneet was staying at the Mon Calamari Starco station."  
  
"Ooh! Starco! Are we low on fuel already?" he asked with disbelief. After all, they'd just topped off the tank after leaving Naboo. It usually got them seven hyperspace jumps and they'd only made three.  
  
"No. Since we decided not to ask Wesba and the government's busy rescuing the Chief of State, we were thinking maybe Emaz Sneet could help us out." He nodded and sat down in the copilot's seat.  
  
Elibex took a last look at the controls then stepped back. "Well, if you're sure you can figure it out, I'm going to go back to bed." At her superior's nods, she left.  
  
Once she was out of earshot, Dan looked at the navigator. "What gives you the idea that you can fly this thing better than someone who's been practicing for a couple years?"  
  
"The starfighter academy."  
  
For a few seconds, he just sat there, his eyes wide and his jaw dropped. "You went to the starfighter academy?" She merely nodded as she started pre- flight procedures. "Then why didn't you fly us out of Kitzlym?"  
  
"Bex is more familiar with the controls, but we've got mostly wide open space here."  
  
"You're kidding, right," Dan trembled. "You aren't that bad of a pilot. are you?"  
  
"I haven't flown since we were testing your modifications."  
  
"We barely did any flying then!" Despite the night shift pilot's inexperience compared to Jess Jess, he was starting to wish she were at the helm.  
  
Flipping a couple of switches and turning a knob, Janua slowly brought the repulsorlifts online and started toward the exit. "I know." Soon, the blocky freighter was gliding between the majestic towers of the city- planet. Suddenly, it lurched starboard and came within two meters of slamming into a skyscraper. A look of horror appeared on the Alderaanian's face as he hurriedly strapped on his crash webbing. She laughed when she saw this. "*Vornskr's* not as aerodynamic as what I used to fly."  
  
"And what was that?" Dan managed.  
  
"Y-wing."  
  
"Well, at least we're faster in space."  
  
"Really? It's a y-wing's missile's speed you have to worry about. That's all you have to outrun."  
  
"Not if you have good shields." By this time, their course had become less erratic and they were on their way to the water world Mon Calamari, Elibex Hyroe's homeworld. 


	22. Traitor

They told me they were going to fire at my friends and my ship and they  
expected me not to try anything? -Jess Jess's Journal  
  
"'D-BAM,' he said. 'Durasteel- Bacterial Acid Missile.' I guess it's a projectile." Clipper cocked his head and cackle-hissed, as vornskrs sometimes did. "Don't look at me like that. I know it's obvious. 'Acid.' It must eat through durasteel. But where does the 'bacterial' come in?" Her pet barked and stood, acting kind of impatient. "You're right. It must be a missile containing a bacteria that eats through durasteel." She sighed, wondering what her crew was doing. Hopefully, they were going to Wesba. A fleet of ships was exactly what the Imperials wanted. Even a single ship would be enough for them to test on. If a Jedi was at the controls, he could tap into the Force, know it was coming, and dodge well before it even broke the shields.  
  
Clipper's ears perked and he walked over to lean one against the door. It wasn't long before it opened, preceded by the vornskr's retreat from the hatch. Zimel sat down in a corner opposite from the captain, soon joined by her long legged pet. "How're you?"  
  
"Okay, I guess. About as good as I can be for being locked in a little white room for several days."  
  
He chuckled, getting the idea that this being would have some kind of wry humor to offer in any situation. "I wish I could do something for you, but I'm only a lieutenant. By the way, I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. General Dalpiez wanted to know some things from you."  
  
"I figured as much."  
  
"I believe we left off at you telling me about your crew getting Jedi help." Curiosity and excitement saturated his voice.  
  
Jess Jess was surprised. Even she hadn't thought to continue their conversation. It seemed like it was about over. "Uh, . We know two Jedi, a master and apprentice. Well, the master thinks of the apprentice as a friend and the apprentice obviously thinks it's more of a master apprentice thing. Okeeday?"  
  
His blank stare was all the answer she needed, but he unnecessarily responded, "No, you lost me."  
  
She gave him a slight nod, "Okeeday. Nevermind then. The apprentice is a Gungan named Wesba. We've been friends for a while and he introduced me to Branlo, his master/friend. Wesba says that he's very good with animals, but Clipper seems to be an exception. Uh, anything else you want to know?"  
  
Again, he sat there like she was speaking Bocce. "No. That was plenty more than I wanted." Suddenly, he sat straight up and exclaimed, "Wait a minute! I know how I can help!"  
  
This really perked up the Gungan. "How?" Sensing the rising excitement, Clipper stood and cackle-hissed.  
  
"I'll get court-martialed, but I could send a message to your ship."  
  
"No, that won't be necessary." Confusion was evident on the youth's face. Sensing it, Clipper cocked his head. Had she not been so serious about it, Jess Jess would have laughed at the strange sight. Who would have thought a vornskr and an Imperial officer would both be baffled together? "We have nothing to tell them. Not now anyway. If they don't come for a few weeks, we could send one, but not yet."  
  
"Why not for so long? Wouldn't we want to contact them as soon as possible?"  
  
"No. If they take so long, they'll be waiting for a senatorial decision. Until we're sure they aren't coming sooner, we can't assume that's what they're doing. They could be on their way through hyperspace right now. Then they'd get your message when they were already in-system and your court-martial will have been for nothing. No, you can't contact them."  
  
"Then what could I do to help you?"  
  
"Don't bother. Just wait 'til Jan and Dan get here. Even Baka's crazy enough to try."  
  
"Who's Baka?"  
  
*Poor kid,* thought the Gungan, *he only knows about life on the base!* She sighed. "He's our newest member. He's a-"  
  
"Newest member to what?"  
  
*Boy, he's full of questions.* "Cadyue Shuttling and Shipping. It's my company. Anyway, he's a black-"  
  
"Wow! I knew you were a captain and had your own ship, but I didn't know you had your own company too!"  
  
Jess Jess paused for a moment then slowly nodded. She thought it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "He's," she told him, pausing with each word to see if he'd interrupt, "a black." Then she talked quickly so he could either hear her or interrupt with a completely irrelevant question. "He's a black Bothan who works for me as a gunner. He's actually not half bad, but he's immature and inexperienced."  
  
He nodded then glanced at his chrono and started. "I've got to go! I'm on duty in five minutes!" With that, he hopped up, knocked at the door, and rushed out, leaving Clipper staring after him with the same puzzled look that he had given Jess Jess only minutes before. 


	23. Infiltration

I thought it was just another appointment like the weekly one with the managers. I had no clue what I was bargaining for. -Emaz Sneet's Log aboard  
the Brilliance of Starco  
  
The vice president looked around the sparsely furnished office. Once again, his secretary had scheduled an appointment for him and only told him the time and where he needed to be. He hadn't a clue who was coming, but he did know that they had specifically asked for him. Nobody specifically asked for him. Not in a business situation anyway. He looked at his chrono. They should be there any time. He turned to look over all the parked ships being refueled. They weren't all that busy at the moment and had he wanted to, he could have counted them. One in particular caught his eye. It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen it before. A Corellian freighter with an airfoil from another craft sturdily mounted on the side.  
  
While he was trying to remember it, the door opened and his secretary sent two sentients in. When he turned and motioned them to sit, he realized that they also seemed somewhat familiar. "Hello," he greeted, leaning forward to shake the Twi'lek's blue hand. "How can I help you?"  
  
She glanced at her human partner who muttered to her, "Are you sure we can tell him without knowing he'll help?"  
  
Although she didn't particularly approve of having their own conversation in front of someone else, she answered his question. "Jess seemed to trust him."  
  
At that moment, Emaz finally recalled who these people were and where he'd seen that ship before. "Jess Cadyue? What's she need? What's going on? Why didn't she come here herself if she needs help?"  
  
The Twi'lek, who he remembered as Janua Dar, spoke up. "To put it simply, she was imprisoned by Imperials and we have to get her out." She let her words sink in. "The New Republic has to deal with Organa Solo being stuck on Corellia and doesn't really have time to deal with any other 'possible' threats."  
  
"Then we'll want to infiltrate their ranks," Emaz announced. Raising his hand to point to Dantien, he continued. "The only problem is that he'll have to do it alone."  
  
A large grin appeared on the mechanic's face. "You'll help us then?"  
  
"Jess and I have been friends for a long time. There's no way I couldn't help."  
  
What the Gand had said to provoke his question finally registered in his head. "Wait! Me? I won't have a clue what to do, surrounded by Imperials in their own system!"  
  
Confusion evident by the back and forth movement of his eyes, the businessman asked, "What am I missing here?"  
  
"They hired us and gave us coordinates to go to. There, we found their underground base in an uninhabited system," answered Janua informatively.  
  
"Okay then." He sat and thought for a moment. "We'll have to take my ship; they'd recognize yours. It's Imperial, so we're going to look like we're lost. We'll follow a straight course until they contact us at which point, we'll head toward the base. We'll say we're travelers and we want to go to a planet that has a giant canyon."  
  
"But there's tons of those," Janua objected.  
  
"I know. It'll take time to tell us where we're supposed to go." He stood again. "I'll tell you the rest while we're in hyperspace."  
  
Following his lead, the others got up and trailed him out the door and into the hallway. "We need to stop at the *Vornskr* and tell the others. Should they come with us?" she questioned, hoping the answer would be no.  
  
With his reply, he granted her wish. "No, I only have uniforms for two and the Brilliance of Starco isn't all that big."  
  
"What is it?" Dantien, being an experienced mechanic and extremely interested in starships, wondered what model he would be privileged in flying or riding in.  
  
"It's an old *Sentinel*-class landing craft, why?"  
  
"Just wondering," he replied, already lost in thought. The ship was also known as an Imperial landing craft and looked much like the *Lambda*-class shuttle that seemed to have been favored by the Emperor and Darth Vader. While the latter could hold twenty passengers and took a command crew of four for top performance, the landing craft could carry fifty-four with a command crew of two or three. This was because it didn't have a bulky hyperdrive. How then would they go to Kitzlym? Without going into hyperspace, it could take decades to go from the Outer Rim to the Core Worlds. He'd probably find out soon. A look of concern unconsciously crept onto his face.  
  
They walked the remainder of the station in silence. When they stepped out into the huge, boxy hanger that was the heart of the station, they split up, Emaz strutting toward the *Brilliance of Starco,* the other two jogging to the *Gungan Vornskr.* One ship might have been as new as the beginning of the downfall of the Empire, the other as old as the original Republic, yet both shared a mission of retrieval.  
  
Janua stepped inside to talk to Elibex and Prat who were to be left in charge. Dantien checked the outer hull for any signs of damage, wear, or just something that wasn't right. After all, while he was gone, there wouldn't be a certified mechanic onboard to fix anything at a moment's notice. He wanted the *Vornskr* to be in the best of shape, especially when he wasn't there. By the time he was done with his thorough inspection, his coworker was finished lecturing the "kids," as they'd taken to calling the younger crew members. Finished with all responsibilities to the ship and the company, the pair began to make their way to the elegantly painted company ship they would be residing in until they were back home. Upon entry, Dantien saw that much of the space inside was taken up by a fairly good hyperdrive, which answered the question that had arisen in his mind earlier. 


	24. Shopping

One of the rare chances I had to gaze at my homeworld and I blew it by  
worrying about Baka. -Elibex's Diary  
  
"He's been gone since he saw their ship lift off!" Elibex paced again to the far side of the room. "What kind of mischief is he up to?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else.  
  
Prat finally met her suspicious gaze. "I'm sorry I promised Baka I wouldn't tell. It's nothing he shouldn't be doing."  
  
"Yeah, it's probably nothing he should be doing." A nearby sliding noise caught their attention and they listened for a moment before Elibex rushed out the door, followed by a calmer Tatooinian. There, they were greeted by the subject of their conversation who was pushing a large box up the boarding ramp.  
  
"Baka!" Elibex scolded. "Where have you been?"  
  
He stopped and gave her his most pitiful, defenseless "who, me" look. "Just. shopping." Looking back at the heavy load, he resumed struggling with the awkward box.  
  
Making sure he was inside, she shut the ramp and stomped off, muttering, "Where is there to shop? It's a refueling station!"  
  
Baka stood and stared at the remaining night shift crew member. "Prat, old buddy, pal, best friend in the galaxy." he began, a grin spreading across his furry face, causing the other to wince. "Would you be so kind as to help me get this to our room?"  
  
His worst fears not realized, Prat merrily grabbed one end of the box and together, they managed to heave it into the pink room. 


	25. Clipper hide rug

It could have been a relaxing vacation from the ordinary pressures of business ownership if she hadn't been so pessimistic. -Diary of Baka Ma'lik  
  
"You ask me that almost every time you come in here and the answer's still 'about as good as I can be for being locked in a little white room for several days.'" Jess Jess was wrong in that assessment. Even though she could not recognize it in herself, Clipper knew she was a little more aggravated than usual. Maybe it was from, like she said, just being imprisoned in a small, monochromatic room, or perhaps it was from her frustration with knowing that her friends were probably about to walk into an Imperial trap and there was nothing she could do. Either way, it wasn't one of her best days.  
  
Zimel raised his hands in surrender. "Okay. Just asking." Both were silent, groping for some subject that would inspire conversation. Then he remembered the explanation he'd given his peers for why he'd come today. While his colleagues considered it no secret that the two had become friends, he still thought it was. "The general said that I could take you on a real tour of the base."  
  
"That sounds an awful lot like a date," she commented, yawning, causing her mouth to open more than he'd imagined and her lengthy tongue curled similar to Clipper's.  
  
His cheeks trying to match the walls in the guy's cabin, he frowned. "If you'll leave the vornskr behind."  
  
"No, thanks. I think I'll pass."  
  
"Yeah, I would, too. Knowing him, you might return to find a nice, pretty Clipper-hide rug."  
  
Momentarily, her eyes widened, horrified at the mere suggestion of any such thing being done to her faithful companion. Then she realized that he was just joking and he had grown to like Clipper more than Janua did. "It would be nice to have a change of scenery," she admitted, "but for all I know, I could be heading to the trash compactor or a shuttle to Kessel."  
  
He nodded absently then looked past her, almost as if he was seeing through her, much like she had heard Skywalker would do when probing someone's mind. "I'd like to get off this rock, too. Is there any chance I could go with you if your friends get here?" he solemnly asked once his eyes focused.  
  
The captain opened and closed her mouth several times before giving up trying to give a logical explanation of the feeling in the pit of her stomach that was telling her not to let him come. For one thing, anyone who crossed a superior officer, whether their alliances lie with the Empire or New Republic, would be on the officer's bad side. They would want revenge or discipline, which could come in two main forms: a bounty hunter or a court martial. Either way, the future for this young man wouldn't be looking too bright.  
  
On the other hand, if he really had a need to get away from here, this would probably be his only hope, leaving him to deal with the consequences. But how could the need to get a new job outweigh having a life free from fear? If he was to run away, he'd have people looking for him and they would be anxious to take him back to a place worse than where he'd started after he knew what it's like to be on his own. It would be devastating. There was no possible way she could let him destroy his future like that. She could not help him.  
  
"You'd get put on Kitzlym Base's top ten most wanted list." Actually, now that she said that, she knew her ship would be on there too. But she would not be giving up all she had, all she had ever known to escape. She would be giving up her future if she stayed put, and her sanity too. "Neither of us wants that, but while, for me, it's unavoidable, I won't let you deliberately do that."  
  
Zimel thought about all he had learned from her, in a sense his captive, his friend. Then he caught something in her words that didn't make sense to him. "Why do you say it's unavoidable for you?"  
  
"I can't live like this. There are things I want to accomplish in my life and I won't let even a whole base of guys in white armor stand in my way."  
  
"It's the same for me. These people are so."  
  
"It would destroy your future, all you ever dreamed of. I will not allow you to do that to yourself. You're not coming with us. End of story." She paused and Clipper lifted his head and half-heartedly growled at the young man stroking him. Sighing, she gave him another choice, a chance to logically consider everything she had said and for her to do the same. "If you still disagree with me, go right now and take a day to think about it. Just remember that there would be major consequences for both of us if you leave."  
  
The lieutenant stood, shoving the vornskr off his lap. As he crossed the threshold to the corridor, he muttered, "I have." He knew that General Dalpiez would be steaming mad, that he'd do everything in his power to get the junior comm officer to return in one manner or another. He knew Jess Jess could have figured that out. What she didn't know, however, was that the base barely had enough capital to buy food and medical supplies as well as the occasional spare part. Torlix Malkus was stretching his altruism by finding, buying, and shipping those supplies and no bounty hunter would be willing to find someone for free. Unless that coward that called himself a general was willing to take his precious life into his hands by leaving, he could be so bold as to become a holodrama star and be as safe as if he was hiding underground on Hoth in the abandoned Echo Base. There was no way he could stay here anymore. Life just wouldn't be the same. He was going to leave and Captain Cadyue's friends would sure be very helpful in that regard. 


	26. Out of the Cockpit

I knew her logic wouldn't stand when the few things she didn't know were  
taken into account. -Prat's Journal  
  
Prat entered the cockpit and, without so much as a glance to the Mon Calamari in the pilot's seat, requested permission to take off from traffic control. They replied that the Vornskr could leave in fifteen standard minutes.  
  
Elibex immediately turned to glare at him. "What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Going to Kitzlym," he replied, keeping his eyes on the instruments in front of him that were showing the progress of some of the many preflight procedures.  
  
"Prat, Jan left me in command and she told us to stay put." She spoke slowly and clearly, as if she was explaining to a small child why he couldn't have an expensive toy he wanted.  
  
"Bex," he replied in the same tone of voice, "I know that."  
  
"Then let's shut down and stay here." She was so intent on convincing the Tatooinian that she did not see the silhouette in the doorway.  
  
"We have to go to Kitzlym," the new voice pleaded.  
  
Keeping an eye focused on the human, the pilot rolled the other to look at Baka. "You know you're not allowed in the cockpit."  
  
"I'm not in the cockpit." Sometimes, the arrogant Bothan could be a real smart alec. "You saw those racks of TIEs in the base's landing bay as well as I did and you must know that the *Brilliance of Starco* is unarmed." By then, Prat had turned to watch the furry alien and the pilot had two eyes on him. What Baka said about the other ship being unarmed alarmed her. "It has good shields, but even against half a squadron of regular TIEs, it won't last long."  
  
The Rogue Squadron fan knew that one of the main reasons fighter pilots survived was that, in addition to being able to fly well, they could shoot back and have fewer unfriendlies on their tails. These two were right, if TIEs were unleashed on the ex-Imperial vessel, it would be vaped in a matter of minutes. The only problem was that they'd enter the system a whole day after the *Brilliance.*  
  
"Then let's get going." Her announcement caused the young nonhuman to cheer and Prat to smile. "Oh, and Baka?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Get out of the cockpit." 


	27. Self Guided Tour

There are two major points to consider when you wonder if we did the  
right thing: it was crazy and it worked. -Occasional Musings of  
Dantien Pindar  
  
Carefully, Janua brought the shuttle out of hyperspace. She was unaccustomed to piloting the craft and was apt to press the wrong buttons and flip the wrong switches. Looking out the forward viewport, she saw the several rocky planets of the system looming in front of them, one of which imprisoned her employer, captain, and friend. The clicking of a Gand's exoskeleton brought her attention to the figure standing beside her.  
  
"Are you sure this plan of yours will be successful?" She had been extremely anxious about this since they left. After all, who would be so stupid as to willingly enter a known Imperial base?  
  
Unlike her, Emaz was supernaturally calm considering what they were about to do. "No, but if we can get near the base, I'm certain I can buy you the time you'll need. That's only if you're sure you can do this.  
  
The Twi'lek thought for a moment. "I can."  
  
"It'll be dangerous. You could end up being Jess's next door neighbor and neither of you will even know."  
  
"I realize that. You don't have to point it out so I'm thinking about it and get distracted. Then we'll all be inmates together."  
  
By the underlying tension in her voice, he knew it was a good time to change the subject. "Okay. You'd better get into your costume. I can handle it from here until we land."  
  
Nodding, she gave her seat up and left to get ready for her part. He sat and switched the comm to a wide-beam transmission, ensuring that the base would pick it up. A sliver of doubt came into his mind, asking what would happen if there was no base, but he pushed it aside. Injecting innocence and trepidation into his voice, he called out to all the ships or bases that might be in the system. "Hello? Is there anyone out there?" Several minutes passed and every now and then, he would repeat his message, putting in more desperation each time.  
  
Finally, when he was about to give up, a young man's voice came through the speakers. If either Dantien or Janua had heard it, they might have recognized it. "Incoming ship, identify yourself," it demanded curiously.  
  
Pumping as much relief into his voice as possible, the alien replied instantaneously. "Oh, I'm so glad there's someone out here who can help me. I'm on vacation, but I guess I entered the wrong coordinates into the navicomputer. I was going to go to this world that has a really big canyon; do you know what planet that is?" The uncertain silence that followed would have made Emaz smile if his species was more accustomed to it. His plan was working so far.  
  
"Do you know anything else about your destination?"  
  
"Not really. It has one huge canyon that is its main attraction."  
  
"Why don't you land on the fourth planet. Do you know how to enter the transmitted coordinates into a navicomputer?"  
  
"More or less."  
  
"Here you go then."  
  
After he received the coordinates, he flipped the comm off. Once he had plotted the course the officer had sent, he put the ship on autopilot and walked back into it to speak to the Alderaanian and Twi'lek. Finding them in the first room back, he noticed that both were about ready. Dressed in an Imperial lieutenant's uniform, Janua looked rather strange whereas Dantien appeared quite dashing.  
  
"Well, since we don't have a map of the base, you're going to have to run from him until someone helps him out," he instructed the blue skinned navigator, jerking one of the three fingers on his hand toward her coworker.  
  
"Okay," she said, "but what if someone else catches me?"  
  
"You rely on Dan."  
  
Her jaw dropped, remembering how he didn't understand Bocce, the most common tongue used for space travel. "You're not serious. Please tell me you're not serious."  
  
"I'm quite serious." He then walked over to a storage locker and retrieved a set of binders. "Here, you'll need these to look like you belong," Emaz told the human as he tossed them to him.  
  
Dantien nodded as he clipped them to his belt. "Let's go see if we're there yet." Together, the trio reentered the cockpit. After dropping out of orbit, Janua landed the ship while Emaz continued talking with the Imperials. Apparently, they had gathered a list of vacation planets with big canyons on them to see if any sounded familiar to the alleged tourist.  
  
A heavy sigh came over the comm just as the *Brilliance* touched down. "I'll have someone come onto your ship to try to figure this out. And you've never heard of any of them?"  
  
"Not a one." Emaz was having the time of his life tricking these Imperials. As far as he was concerned, he didn't do anything this much fun often enough. The rest of the day he spent giving the liaison a hard time, mixing a little bit of each of the vacation worlds he knew of to create the perfect resort while the *Vornskr* members waited somewhat patiently for the right time to begin their performance. They couldn't afford for anyone to see them slip out otherwise they wouldn't get a ride home even if they succeeded.  
  
Eventually, the landing bay emptied with the exception of the pair of stormtroopers guarding the turbolift door through which the captain had walked many days before, not knowing it was a trap. Watching the liaison nod to the guards before descending to the depths of the base, the uniformed Twi'lek decided they could leave. While Dantien was merely anxious to have Clipper return, Janua wished nothing more than to have everything back to normal, whatever that was.  
  
"Okay, how much time do you want to give me?" she inquired as she extended the quiet, well-maintained boarding ramp.  
  
"I'd be right behind you, but we need a way to get past those guards."  
  
After thinking for a moment, Janua had a plan that could work. "Then you'll catch me as we get over there and I'll 'escape' when the turbolift doors open on the lower level."  
  
"Let's go."  
  
Silently, she crept out of the ship and kept it between her and the two stormtroopers until she could work up to a full tilt run. Hearing heavy footfalls behind her, she knew Dantien had followed her lead and, really getting into his role, he even added a few "stop right there"s and some colorful insults. About nine meters from the rack of TIEs she'd been heading for, he grabbed her, almost throwing them both to the floor.  
  
"Sithspit, you run fast!" he muttered in amazement. The commotion attracted the attention of the guards who probably hadn't had as much excitement since boot camp. Loosely fitting the binders over his friend's wrists, the mechanic made his way over to the turbolift and, before he signaled the car, he turned to the guards intently watching him. "I forget where the detention corridor is; what level is it on?"  
  
"C, fifth on the right." The mechanical voice sent shivers down their backs. Neither had ever before come face to face with an armed stormtrooper, the very manifestation of evil in the minds of many. Nodding thankfully, the Alderaanian signaled the car and roughly pushed Janua ahead of him.  
  
As soon as the doors closed, she glowered at him. "That was just a little too convincing."  
  
He shrugged as he unlocked the binders on her wrist. "Hey, we got in, didn't we?"  
  
Rolling her eyes, she got ready to sprint as soon as the doors opened. When they did, she took off, startling her coworker with her speed so much that he almost yelled for her to wait up. She took particular joy in bumping into one officer after another until she took a wrong turn onto a hall that dead ended, which worked out rather nicely when Dantien finally caught up and replaced the binders on her wrists.  
  
He then noticed that he'd been so intent on catching up with her that he was lost. "Uh, where are we again?" he whispered.  
  
"Third on the left." As they made their way to the detention corridor, she did her best to stare harshly at anyone they passed. When they arrived at the right intersection, they both mentally prepared themselves for a fight. This wasn't going to be easy, especially since both were unarmed. The Twi'lek realized that although she knew a few defensive maneuvers, her hands were bound. The door hissed open, revealing a room full of only two people.  
  
*A lot of good that'll do them if Clipper escapes,* thought Dantien. He did not want to imagine what the Imperials could have done to the vornskr in his absence.  
  
One of the two stormtroopers turned a lazy head and was about to inquire as to why they were there, but he answered his own question. It was obvious to him; a nonhuman wandering the base in an Imperial uniform, it was unthinkable and therefore, she must be punished. Dantien turned toward the viewscreen displaying a list of all the inmates and their rooms. Amazing as it may have seemed, it was also logical that Jess Jess was the only one. Kitzlym was isolated and no one had any reason to visit. No outside influence, no crime. Calmly, he marched her to the captain's cell and before the guards could react, opened the door. Janua, who was in the lead and happened to be looking straight into the room, started when not one humanoid face, but two gazed back at her with just as much astonishment.  
  
Quickly, the uniformed officer in the cell regained his voice. "I don't think we've met."  
  
"Jan! Let's go. I'm surprised Baka didn't follow you!" the Gungan exclaimed as she jumped to her feet, followed by her suddenly energetic pet.  
  
"Uh, Baka's at Mon Cal." She was so taken aback by the visitor that she had completely forgotten about the act.  
  
As the stormtroopers also figured out what was happening, Dantien pushed Janua in the white room with the other two and stood in the doorframe so that it would not lock them in. "I can tell those guys aren't big fans of sentiment. Any ideas?"  
  
Her mind kicking into gear, the Twi'lek pivoted and demanded, "Get these things off of me."  
  
Before anyone could do anything else, however, the vornskr took the lead in the rescue, leaping toward the guards and knocking the blasters out of their hands. Zimel, who had been visiting with the captain, stood. "Maybe we should follow Clipper?"  
  
"Sure, but how are we going to get back?" asked the mechanic as he unlocked the binders.  
  
"I'll take care of that, just go."  
  
The *Vornskr* members instantly agreed and took off after the furry pet, yelling quick good-byes and short thanks. There wasn't enough time. With a strange creature running through the halls, followed by two aliens and a human in a lieutenant's uniform, the two guards in the detention corridor were going to get a lot of back-up real fast.  
  
Zimel rushed to the comm unit and got connected to the general. "Sir, we have a D-BAM breach in the main turbolift." He would help his new friend, even if it meant he would receive a court martial, but that would only happen if he stayed. He then disconnected and ran for the stairs. It was only two flights until he was in the landing bay.  
  
Meanwhile, Clipper reached the end of the hall and stood patiently waiting for his owner's command. He did not understand the urgency of the situation, even though he knew it was there. Soon enough, the Gungan arrived and slapped the call button. The car had probably not gone anywhere; it opened almost instantaneously. They crowded in and someone hit the button for the landing bay. The turbolift, an object not affected by emotion or urgency, seemed to take an eternity to arrive only two levels up. Eventually, it opened and the crowd dashed out. They ran for all they were worth toward the modified Imperial landing craft that sat in the middle of the wide open space that was only one of the gigantic caverns formed by natural forces and incorporated into the design of the base. The high whine of the engines told Dantien that Emaz was ready for them to board and leave, and for that he was thankful. What none of them knew, though, was that they were not first to run up that ramp that could lead them back to the sky or keep them grounded for who knew how long. While that other person was officially an Imperial, he no longer believed in the morals and ethics that were the foundation of the Empire. He, like the three now breathlessly charging onto the ship, wanted just to get away from the underground prison.  
  
Slapping the button to close the ramp, Jess Jess slumped to the floor. "I never imagined you'd get Emaz to come."  
  
"I never would have considered him if it wasn't for Bex," admitted Janua, also slouched against a wall.  
  
"I was worried you might bring a fleet."  
  
Appalled, the Twi'lek looked over at her friend. "You don't really think I'm that careless, do you?"  
  
"I was wondering." Clipper, the only one not winded, laid down and rested his chin on Dantien's lap.  
  
A voice floated back from the front of the ship. "You landed this thing, Jan. Aren't you going to get us out of here?"  
  
"Oh!" She raced to the front and flipped a few switches while she sat. She brought the repulsorlifts up a little bit quicker than she usually would have, but she wanted to leave a little bit sooner than usual, too. Layers of rock sped by as the Brilliance ascended. Then it peeked out of the tunnel and into the vacuum of space.  
  
Emaz glanced over at Janua then back down at the screens in front of him. One showed several blips behind them. "Uh, I think we have a problem. TIEs."  
  
"Sithspawn, can't they ever leave us alone?"  
  
At that moment, Jess Jess walked in. "Emaz, why don't you let me?"  
  
"Sure." He let the Gungan sit in his seat and took one of the back ones. Both of the individuals at the helm had more experience than he did; he had no right to be trying to figure out the controls when they had fighters on their tail.  
  
"Captain, it's good to have you back," Janua said lightly as she fed more power to the sublight engines.  
  
"Just fly. I'll enter an exit vector into the navicomp. Where'd you say you left everyone?"  
  
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light ahead of them and from it emerged the familiar shape of the *Gungan Vornskr.* The Gungan switched the comm over to the frequency she knew her ship used. "Bex, what're you doing here?"  
  
"Um, captain? We were going to help rescue you and it looks like we have good timing."  
  
"Turn around and go back to Mon Calamari. Now!"  
  
Baka's voice came on next. "But those TIEs behind you, don't you want me to get 'em?"  
  
"No. You heard me. Turn around." The comm clicked and the *Vornskr* turned and shot back into hyperspace. "Well, it looks like they've got it right. We're out of the gravity well. Everyone hang on." She pulled the lever and the *Brilliance* was also on its way to Mon Calamari. 


	28. Gifts for All

I knew I should have scolded him more when he got back from "shopping." Now  
I know why. -Elibex's Diary  
  
Through the viewport, outside the magcon field that kept the station's air inside it spun the watery globe of Mon Calamari. There was not one person in that room that wasn't thankful to be gazing out at it. After all, how many members of a shipping company could say that they'd been in a hidden Imperial base and survived without firing a shot? The very thought was absurd. Yet, here they all sat around the small dining room table that also served as a desk in the captain's office, unwounded except for the memories. Everyone over the age of twenty, anyway. Baka had sneaked into his room to retrieve something upon his employer's return.  
  
Janua had only to turn her head to her right to address Jess Jess. "Who was that guy in there with you anyway? They had enough cells that they wouldn't have to double up."  
  
The Gungan stared blankly for a few moments then laughed. "That was the comm officer we spoke to when we landed."  
  
"So that was the guy that didn't know any vacation worlds offhand, but would gladly help me with any system I needed to know more about on my ship." Emaz leaned back in his chair, remembering all the fun he'd had annoying the living daylights out of the officers.  
  
A wide smile spread across the Gungan's face as she imagined how much trouble her friend had given them. "Actually, he was really kind. I feel bad about leaving him there, but what was I supposed to do?"  
  
No one could answer and no one had to because just at that moment, Baka decided to join them, pushing his box before him. "Hi all. I hope you don't mind, but while Jess was on vacation, I got you each a little gift," he announced, a toothy, devious grin appearing on his furry face. Then he proceeded to remove jumpsuit after jumpsuit and handed them out to the recipients. "I hope they fit." As they got passed around to their new owners, some members burst out laughing while others stared at them in horror. While the color didn't clash too much with the light blue ones they already had, it would certainly make sure they were never lost in a crowd again.  
  
"Hot pink?" The Mon Calamari had a decidedly sick look on her face.  
  
Prat, on the other hand, burst out laughing. "We'll blend into our room like a wampa in a crowd of Talz, won't we Dan."  
  
The Alderaanian couldn't do more than nod his head. "It's going in the bottom of my drawer," he muttered loudly enough for only Jess Jess to hear. When her wide smile appeared, he was the only one that knew why.  
  
After a few other comments about the awkwardly colored uniforms, when Baka was seated smugly at the end of the table, Emaz remembered something he'd meant to mention to his old friend earlier. "I happen to know that there's a job opportunity waiting for you at Xa Fel."  
  
"Really? Shuttling or shipping?" The captain leaned forward and stared expectantly at the Gand.  
  
"Shuttling."  
  
"Do you know much about the person?"  
  
"Yes, but I think I'll let her tell you about herself."  
  
"And keep us in suspense," Janua finished for him, even though he had not intended to say anymore.  
  
"Well, I'd better get going. I wish I could fraternize with you more, but you have no clue how many appointments I pushed back to come to your rescue."  
  
"I'll be glad to repay the favor sometime." The Gungan noticed that he was already switching to more formal wording, even though he probably didn't realize it.  
  
The vice president stood and made his way over to the door. No one moved to show him out; he knew where to go and was more like a visiting family member than a guest.  
  
"Bex," Jess Jess said, standing, "take us to Xa Fel. I think I'll get used to my own bed again." 


	29. Gungan Speak

It's surprising Emaz isn't a Jedi; he always gives only the information you  
need, no more, no less. -Jess Jess's Journal  
  
She looked out the cockpit viewport while the systems shut down. Another planet, another spaceport, but there could be a job opportunity here. Where to find it was another question. Emaz had seemed unconcerned with it, but then again, maybe he'd just forgotten that aspect. Either way, she wasn't too enthusiastic about stepping out on the polluted world.  
  
Jess Jess stood and, with one last glance at the darkened panels, left. Gentle words from a friendly conversation drifted down the hall from the rec. room. Deciding that her presence might be welcomed, she stopped in the kitchen for some snacks on the way over. Unfortunately, just as she reached the doorway, she heard a knock on the boarding ramp. Immediately, she rushed over and slapped it down. At the bottom stood a short, cloaked figure that had a power to her that Jess Jess had only noticed in Wesba and Branlo.  
  
"Hello, come on up," the captain invited.  
  
"Tanken yousa," replied a feminine voice in Gunganese.  
  
The captain was extremely surprised by this. Most people she met didn't know what species she was, let alone how to speak her language which she almost never used. As soon as the other was completely up the ramp, she closed it and showed the visitor to her office.  
  
"What can I do for you?" the captain questioned.  
  
"I was hoping you could take me to Coruscant."  
  
"If I may ask for your name?"  
  
The visitor pushed back her hood, which had sheltered her from the light rain that had picked up outside. She had long hair that was currently pulled back into a ponytail and in two braids and the expression on her face conveyed no emotion. "I would ask also if I'd just been through what you have. I'm Esough Dalvreth."  
  
Jess Jess took the hand she extended and they shook. She decided that, as long as they were going somewhere she'd heard of, it really didn't matter whether this Esough was Imperial. Then again, how could she not be with the New Republic? After all, she knew Gunganese and what kind of Imperial would take the time to learn it? Also, she seemed to be very kind and benevolent. Jess Jess could not place what made this lady seem so interesting to her nor what she wanted to ask until she heard pawing on the door. When it slid open, Clipper bounded in, seeming more vicious than he had with the Imperials. "Clipper! Sit!" She was not sure whether he'd heard her commands until he stopped barely a meter away from the new client, growling.  
  
Esough seemed shocked about this outcome. "What kind of creature is he?"  
  
"A vornskr. Pardon me for asking, but are you a Jedi?"  
  
She nodded her head distractedly. "I'm usually pretty good with animals, but I've heard of vornskrs." A shiver ran down her back.  
  
"You can sleep in the guest quarters and I guess we'll be leaving soon." *This must be the person Emaz was referring to. No wonder he didn't tell us how we'd find her,* she thought.  
  
After leading Esough to the guest room and trying to quickly explain how to lock the door, she found herself back in the cockpit with Janua and Dantien.  
  
"He's been pacing that door since she got here. He wouldn't even eat his dinner." The others could tell by the tone of his voice that Dantien was quite disappointed about that.  
  
"She's a Jedi; what'd you expect? He does that when Wesba's in there too if you didn't notice," Janua reminded him as they gradually lifted higher and higher.  
  
"Well, I thought that it might just be him. But no, he has to do it to all the poor Jedi. I bet Clipper's the one thing in the universe that scares them."  
  
Jess Jess looked back at him like he was crazy. "No, if he starts advancing, they can just use the Force to hold him back."  
  
"Oh, yeah." By that time, they were almost ready to go into hyperspace. Janua was setting a course into the navicomputer and soon enough, the stars elongated and they were traveling faster than light. Again, Jess Jess was last to leave the cockpit, but before she could, Clipper trotted in with a long white cylinder in his mouth.  
  
"Clipper, what'cha got there?" she asked the mute creature as she gently persuaded him to release it. When she saw what he was about to chew on, she could have fainted. "It's a lightsaber! You were about to chew up a lightsaber! Clipper, you could have killed yourself!"  
  
All the vornskr did in response was to sit down and lower his head while looking up at his master. He knew she'd soften up. After all, she could not resist his most pitiful stare.  
  
*****************************  
  
So tell me what you think, but be gentle; this was my first fanfiction and it means a lot to me. And, for those of you expecting stuff from me, I DID NOT write it overnight. I know it looks like that, but I worked on this for five months last year. Because it was my first long and completed story, I wasn't planning to put it on fanfiction.net, but something changed my mind. Tell me if anything seems out of order, because it probably is. Great thanks to all of you regular reviewers, Selori and Mara Jade, Jedi. 


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